Serpent's Iris
by Devilhaze
Summary: The year X777 was a hard time for many, especially Dragon Slayers. A boy named Wake was no exception. Separate from the other Dragon Slayers, he awoke in the farthest corner of Fiore, searching for his dragon By chance he makes some friends with two kids his age, a skilled wizard and an old man who knows a lot more than he lets on. Together, they form the guild Serpent's Iris.
1. Chapter 1

**Year X778**

Wake shivered as he climbed up the side of the mountain. The eight year old was covered in scratches and bruises from the long trek up the mountain. The only thing keeping him going right now was the rain. The rain had always left the boy rejuvenated and full of energy. While he was climbing, the ground gave way and crumbled, causing Wake to grab hold of the ledge before he falls into a presumably endless canyon. He couldn't really tell since it was nearly pitch black outside and he couldn't light a torch for obvious reasons. He kicked his feet off the stone cliffside and flipped over and back onto his feet on the ground. "I really hope the rumors are true. I don't just want to find a bear up there."

He continued his walk up the mountain side and covered himself in his travel blanket. After another five minutes, he noticed a cave up by the summit, seeing a light in a small cave opening. His face beamed with excitement as he figured there was no way a bear could make a fire. He ran up to the cavern, almost slipping a couple of times due to his carelessness. He moved in front of the entrance and pulled the hood off his head, showing off his seafoam green colored hair. "Tsunari! It's me, Wake!" He could feel his heart break as he didn't see who he was looking for, instead seeing 2 kids cuddling by a fire.

One of them was a boy who looked a year or two older than him, having short grey hair and brown eyes. The other one was a girl roughly Wake's age, sporting dark blue hair with a couple of white streaks in it and bright silver eyes. It was impossible to tell their body shape since they were both wrapped in a single blanket, though Wake could tell they were skinny considering the growling their stomachs were making. "Who are you, another kid just abandoned here?" asked the boy.

Wake shook his head, getting a better idea why these kids are all the way up there and possibly starving. "No, just looking for someone. Thought I'd might find answers here." He pulled worn out backpack off his back and pulled out a couple loaves of bread as well as a thermos. "You guys want this? I don't mind sharing."

The girl didn't even hesitate to pull away from the boy, running over and grabbing the loaf of bread and chowing down on it like a wild animal. The boy didn't act as wild as the girl but did accept the offer, grabbing a stick from their little fire and moving over to the offered bread, using the stick on fire to keep himself warm. The girl then started crying as she took a sip from the thermos, finding out it was hot apple cider inside. "T-Thank you. I-I didn't know how much longer I'd last."

Wake blushed a little and scratched the back of his head. Tsunari had never taught him how to deal with girls before so he didn't know how to respond to them. "I-It's nothing. So why are you all the way up here? You said you were abandoned, but I don't see why anyone would leave you all the way up here."

The boy scoffed and turned his head away, taking a sip from the thermos and also feeling the urge to cry. "Our parents brought us all the way up here. Our families have always been close so they brought us on this 'trip' together. Once we made it up to the top, they left all their stuff and us in here. Then.. They left us. Haven't seen them in 3 weeks." The boy then drooped his head and clenched his fist.

Wake bit his lip and turned his head away, understanding how it feels to be abandoned out of nowhere. He sighed and turned back. "I'm sorry to hear that. But if it's been that long, why haven't you tried to climb down?"

The girl pointed outside to the rain. "T-That's why. It's been nonstop rain the entire time we've been here. It's too dangerous for us to climb down. We're probably going to starve up here."

Wake looked outside at the rain, understanding how it might be a problem for these two. He walked up to the cave entrance held his hand out to see how much it was raining. "I'll help you guys climb down. I managed to get all the way up here by myself, I can help you two climb down. What're your names by the way? I'm Wake."

The girl's eyes glimmered like starlight at the kind offer of this boy her age, the reaction getting a blush out of Wake. "T-Thank you Mr. Wake! I'm Crysti. Happy to meet you."

The boy looked uncertain about this boy even younger than him offering to bring the both of them down this scary mountain, but figured it was better than starving to death on this mountain. "Fine, we'll let you guide us. I'm Trevor. Trevor Magnus. How are you gonna guide us down the mountain when the ground's too slippery?"

Wake took a deep breath and opened his mouth. In a rather gross fashion, water started pouring out of his mouth and shaping itself into a ball, growing greatly in size. The ball collected any of the water raining on it and the water off the mountain's stone surface, soon growing large enough to envelope the 3 children, leaving a large air bubble inside for them to breath. "Stay close, it won't be slippery inside the bubble. I saw a path leading down the mountain, but I took the faster way and just climbed up."

Both of them looked astonished that this young boy was capable of magic, and pretty good with it at that. Crysti wrapped her arms around Wake's arm as he was in the center of the bubble, forcing another blush out of the boy. Trevor stood close behind them, picking up their stuff and holding onto the flaming stick so they could better see their way.

They three of them went a couple hours with no problem making their way down the mountain, sticking close together as the path they were on was pretty narrow and one bad move would drop them into the canyon. It was only after they made it to a large level surface that the ground began to shake. They backed up against the cliffside as the shaking was being caused by something moving upwards from the canyon, proof being when a large, long claw spouted from the canyon and hooked itself into the stone.

Wake growled, dropping the bubble, splashing all 3 of them and soaking them. He watched as a one-eyed beast pulled itself from the canyon, its body damaged and scarred. It also showed signs of having wings, but one of the wings had been severed. Once its gaze settled on the 3 children, it opened its mouth, showing 2 long rows of hook-like fangs. It pulled the rest of its body up from the canyon, showing it was also missing one of its legs. Quills rose all around its body as it lunged at the children.

Before the monster got halfway to them, Trevor knelt down and slapped his hand against the ground. A brown magic circle formed under where the monster was, causing an explosion underneath it, sending the monster flying into the air and crashing against the ground. Trevor looked exhausted from this, both because it was an incredibly strong attack for a child his age and the fact he was already weak from starvation.

The monster managed to pull itself back up and glare at the one responsible for that attack just now. It set its sights on Trevor and lunged itself at him, opening its mouth to chomp down on the small child's torso. Crysti ran and tackled Trevor to the ground, knocking them both to the ground and sparing them from the monster's leap, causing the beast to crash into the wall face first. The creature stumbled as it's massive eye had collided with the stone, making it quite dizzy. Once it shook its body and regained its focus, it stared at the two children, sticking out its tongue and tries to wrap it around Crysti's ankle.

"Water Dragon's Flood Talon!" Wake sprung above the monster with his foot surrounded in water. The boy did a front flip to build up momentum and slammed his leg against the beast's tongue, causing it to screech out in pain. Wake turn around to face the beast and took a deep breath and puffed out his cheeks. "Water Dragon's Roar!" A torrent of water shot out of his mouth, crashing into the monster and pushing it back, trying to throw it back into the canyon. The monster caught on quick and stabbed it's claws into the stone to keep it from falling back, waiting it out until the boy was no longer able to summon water to push it back. Wake panted as he was out of breath, never having used a breath attack that long before.

The creature glared at this young boy and bared its fangs at the boy, rushing for him. Trevor came to the rescue this time as he created another explosion under the monster. As it began to fall, Wake took this chance to attack again. "Water Dragon's Pressure Fist!" He surrounded his water in a great deal of water that compressed itself around his closed fist, running up and jumping to hit the monster midair. The beast turned it's eye and tore its claw against Wake's side before it got hit by the punch and sent flying, falling back into the canyon with a loud screech.

Wake fell to his knees and pressed his arm against his gaping wound, pouring water from his mouth and controlling it to cover up the wound and flow the blood back into him, trying to get back to his feet. It was a failed effort as he couldn't even muster the strength to stand, barely able to keep himself from passing out. Trevor looked in fear, turning his gaze to Crysti. "Crysti, you have to help him! You're the only one who can!"

Crysti gazed at the bleeding wound and trembled, looking as if she was about to throw up. She forced herself to keep it down as she ran up to Wake and pressed her hands to his side, creating a bright white light that engulfed the 2 children. When the light faded. Wake's breathing was easier as his wound was closed now, held shut by stitches made of glowing white light. Crysti looked on the verge of passing out after the fact and fell into Wake's arms.

Wake looked at the exhausted young girl in his arms, then up to Trevor who sat down and leaned against the cliffs. "Who are you two? You're incredible." He grunted as his side still hurt but not nearly as much as before.

Before the boy could give an answer, a light started becoming visible from lower down the path they were taking down the mountain. A young man roughly in his twenties was leading an elderly old man up the path. Both of them were wearing raincoats and the young man was holding up a lacrima emitting a bright light, using it to guide both of them up the path. They both looked surprised to see the three children together in the pouring rain. "There they are!" The young man ran up to the children and checked to see if they were okay.

The old man looked at a poster in his hand, emitting a dark green aura from his hand to look at a poster in his hand. "That's quite odd. The request said there would only be two children. Were the man so close to death he misspoke?"

"It doesn't matter. They look cold. They need to be brought to a warm residence. Grelmor, do you think your magic will be able to bring us back to the cabin?" asked the young man, guiding Trevor over to his feet and over to the other children.

The old man, apparently named Grelmor, looked offended at the question asked of him. "I'm hurt that you would even ask that of me, Xander. I happen to hold a substantial amount of magical power. I could launch you halfway across Ishgar if I wished it. I mean Fiore. Forgive me for using the ancient term. Alright, hold on young ones, this might be a bit fast." The old man pulled out a cane from seemingly nowhere, spun it around above his head and slammed it against the ground, forming a magic circle around all 5 of them. A green aura surrounded all of them and within a few moments, all of them were sent flying off across the sky, being carried by the green aura.

Wake looked like he was gonna be sick as the young man named Xander held onto him, the young boy not enjoying the fast travel at all. Trevor held Crysti tightly as he was thinking in his mind on how exactly they were going to land. After roughly 5 minutes of this high speed travel, they all landed on a circular platform by a large wooden cabin. None of them were hurt despite the sudden landing and looked up at the old man. He turned to the children and the young man. "You see? And you dared to doubt my power? Hahahah- Agh! My hip!" He leaned to the side and pressed his hand to his hip, grunting as he turned around and walked inside. "B-Bring the children in and get them something to eat. I need to take care of this."

Xander nodded as he gently pushed against the children. "You don't have to worry. We have plenty of food end beds to house the three of you. We have some questions to ask you but that can wait until morning." After he convinced the children to go inside the cabin, he stepped into the open kitchen and started cooking up some eggs.

The children looked at each other before eating the food, Crysti eating it like a wild animal while Trevor ate it normally. Wake on the other hand wouldn't touch his food, as there was a detail of this cabin that made him pretty sickly. While it looked pretty plain for a wooden cabin, with a couch, a couple of empty rooms save for beds, and a fireplace, the walls were decorated with a pretty grimly sight: The edges of the main room were decorated with a large rib cage, large enough to possibly be a dragon's. "W-Where did you get those bones from?" asked Wake.

The old man walked out of what was probably the bathroom, sighing as his hip felt better now. He overheard the question so he was the one to answer. "These old things? They've been a family treasure for generations. The rest of the skeleton is buried underneath the house, I just keep the ribs inside because they offer very good reinforcement, keeping the house from falling apart even in the worse of weather."

Relief swept over Wake as this meant that the bones weren't from anytime recent. Though his sickly feeling still wouldn't fade. "Would you mind if I ask what these bones go to? They're really big."

Grelmor chuckled and looked into the dark blue eyes of the young boy, grinning as he could see great promise in this young boy. "You should be careful what you ask, boy. Bad things can happen to those who learn things that they shouldn't. Now go ahead and eat up. We have some questions for you all and it would be best for everyone if you're well rested to do so." With those words, he stepped into one of the bedrooms.

After eating their meals, Trevor and Crysti yawned simultaneously. Xander led them both to the spare bedroom where all of the children would be sleeping. After making sure the children had fallen asleep, he came back to the kitchen and started washing the plates, seeing that the remaining child had still not touched his food. "You know, I can already tell that you've been in a fight. Eating healthy and sleeping properly is a good way to make sure wounds heal."

Wake turned his head and felt his stomach growl, closing his eyes tightly. "I know that. I just don't like eggs, okay? Could you.. Get me a glass of water?"

 **The next morning**

The children all woke up together and were greeted to the smell of pancakes. Trevor and Crysti ran up and happily started eating the pancakes happily. For Wake, Xander just gave the kid a glass of sugar water. Wake had never had sugar water before and honestly wasn't the biggest fan of it, not having that big of a sweet tooth. He drank it anyway and felt refreshed. He turned his head and looked at Grelmor walking out of his bedroom, dressed in an old looking robe. "I hope the three of you slept well. Because we have some questions for you."

Xander pulled up two seats to the counter and stared at the three children, who all looked uncomfortable at the prospect of being questioned, like they did something wrong. "I don't believe we've introduced ourselves. My name's Xander, and this is my master, Grelmor. We're both freelance wizards, taking random jobs to keep us situated here. What are your names?"

All of them were hesitant to speak but knew that they could trust these two at this point. "I'm Wake." said the younger boy. "Trevor. Trevor Magnus." said the older boy, using a tough guy tone to hide the fact of how weak his body felt. "C-Crysti Syrin." said the nervous girl.

Xander sighed as two of those names definitely stood out. "It's just as I feared. He wasn't delusional after all. Ahem, Trevor and Crysti. Are you aware of what became of your parents?"

Crysti looked like she was about to burst into tears as she was forced to remember what happened to her. Trevor saw the expression on Crysti's face and grit his teeth. "I couldn't care less about those four. They abandoned us on that mountain, leaving all their stuff behind to give us hope that they'd come back. They left us to die!"

Grelmor groaned as these children clearly didn't know the trust, estimating just how long they must have been up there to come to that conclusion. "I'm afraid that the fate of your parents is a lot harsher than that. A man showed up in town, covered in blood and too hurt to be saved from death. He said his name was Terrence Magnus, and that his wife and family friends had been killed by a monster up on the mountain. He also said that two children with your names were left up there, hopefully still alive."

Both Trevor and Crysti went pale when they received the news. Crysti started bawling her eyes out and Trevor slammed his fist against the counter, his face still angry as tears poured down his face. "Y-You're lying! My dad was the strongest earth wizard ever, and my mom was an awesome fire wizard! There's no way they'd die to.. a monster.. on the mountain.." His eyes went wide as her remembered the monster that they fought on the mountain. "I-It can't be true.."

Xander grunted as he felt his heart ache for these children, having a weakness to seeing children in pain. "The man said that he'd give us twenty percent of his family's money if we saved the both of you. But seeing that you're both alive, I can't bring myself to take it."

"N-No." said Crysti, wiping her eyes as she tried to put on a brave face. "Mr. Terrence would never take no for an answer. He'd want you to have the money he promised. Isn't that right Trevor?"

Trevor stared down at his feet and nodded. He knew his family had a lot of money stored up and would be fine with only eighty percent of it. Besides, he'd still be with Crysti, who would inherit all of her family money. "Yeah. The two of us will be fine without that amount. We'll find a place to live and train our magic. Then we'll find a guild and do some jobs there. I'm sure that money will last us till then."

Grelmor raised his eyebrow in amusement at the prospect of these young children having developed enough magic. Then again in this generation, it was pretty commonplace nowadays. "Hold that thought, we'll come back to that. Now, as for you.." He turned his attention to Wake, who'd been silent this entire time after telling his name. "Mind telling us what you were doing on that mountain?"

Wake growled and turned his head. "I was looking for someone, that's all you need to know. I didn't find them and found these two. I tried to help them down the mountain when that monster you mention showed up. It was obvious that we couldn't kill it but we tossed it back into the canyon that it climbed out of. Well, Trevor and I did. Crysti healed up the wound that the monster left."

Grelmor looked at the children with interest and an idea popped into his head, causing him to chuckle. "Well, I know you children are quite young and have a lot of room to improve. If you're willing, you can live here and I'll teach you how to properly utilize your magic."

Both Trevor and Crysti looked at each other, silently asking each other if it would be a good idea. They didn't see why not since they have nowhere else to go, plus this old man seems nice and has quite a lot of magic power. They turned back to the old man and bowed their heads. "We would be happy to learn from you."

"Good. Now, to better understand what I'm working with, why don't we all tell each other what our magic is. I'll start." Grelmor cleared his throat and held up his hand, surrounding it in the green aura. "My magic is known as Soul Make. I can create artificial spirits from my magic and warp them to whatever shape I please."

Xander smiled and was the next to step up. "Let's step outside. That's where my magic is best utilized." He walks out the front door and guides the others to follow. He steps a good distance away from the others in the middle of the open grassy field. He holds his hands out and points his open palms at the ground. "Terra Shift: Dessert World!" A large magic circle appeared under his feet and the ground under him began to glow. The grass began to wither away and the dirt and rocks began to crumble and split until all that was left within the range of the magic circle was sand. "I can manipulate the terrain of any area around me into a new environment that I've been to and understand its properties."

Trevor looked amazed at this magic. He'd never seen earth magic like that before and it honestly made him excited. "Alright, me next!" he said excitedly, running through the grass until he found a small rock. He picked it up and formed a magic circle on the surface of the rock. He threw the stone into the air and watched it explode like a fire cracker, the debris scattering. "I can make rocks and other earthly material explode, though it has to be touching earth that I touch. I can't detonate a rock in the air if I can't touch it."

Grelmor whistled with impress at the boy's unique earth magic. "I've met a lot of earth wizards in my day but never anyone with magic like that. For lack of a better name, let's dub it Eruption magic." He turned his gaze to Crysti now. "How about you little lady?"

Crysti looked down shyly as everyone's attention was now on her. "W-Well, my mom was a Celestial Spirit wizard and my dad was an Iron Make wizard. According to my mom, she said that the magic I have is something called 'Star Maiden' magic."

Grelmor raised his eyes in surprise and examined Wake's side, seeing that his wound was almost nonexistent at this point. "That explains quite a lot. Star Maiden magic is as rare to come by as strong Celestial Spirit wizards. You're able to perform feats of healing magic. And if I remember correctly, highly experienced ones are capable of forging Celestial Spirit keys."

Crysti's eyes lit up with excitement at hearing about her magic. She could barely contain her excitement as she started jumping for joy. "Hooray! I can be helpful!" She turned her head to Wake. "Hey, Wake! Tell them about that water thing you do!"

All eyes turned on Wake, who sighed as he didn't see any way out of this. "Fine. But this doesn't mean that I'm accepting your offer to stay." He opened his mouth and poured out water from it, the water forming the shape of a badly designed snake and circled around Wake's feet. "I can use Water Dragon Slayer magic. I can produce water from my body and can even manipulate its movements, but only the water I produce myself. I can also recover my stamina and magic by consuming any water not produced by myself."

Xander was the one to whistle this time. "Dragon Slayer magic huh? I thought that was just a myth." He turns his eyes to his master. "Looks like all those stories about Dragon Slayer magic you told me weren't so ridiculous after all."

Grelmor placed his hands on Wake's shoulder. "I see. So you possess magic that I've researched my whole life. I can teach you ways to use it that some could only dream of. So why not take the offer to stay? You'll be free to leave to find whoever you're looking for, but at least you'll have a place to come back to rest. Besides, you've become friends with these children, why not stay friends?"

Wake looked up at the old man and then down at his feet. He knew that there was so much more for Tsunari to teach him, but didn't want to wait to find her to continue his training. This old man proclaimed to know how his magic works, so it was too tempting an offer to resist. He looked up at the two kids that he'd made quick friends of and wished to stay with them as long as possible. He also kind of liked Xander, never having had someone to look up to before of his own species. He turned around to face Grelmor once more. "When do we start?"

* * *

 **And that is the first chapter of my new story. Now I know that Slayer OC's has been done to death by this point which is why I personally won't add anymore than Wake. I hadn't originally planned to do a story like this but was asked to join a collaboration project. I had no reason to refuse so this is my contribution to it. Let me know if you like what you saw and wish to see more of it. Also, feel free to send me ideas on what kind of magic you'd like to see. I'd love to incorporate new types of magic into this story without touching on overused types. That's all for now, tune in next time for the next chapter of this new adventure.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Year X784**

Wake poked his head out of the water to see if the coast was clear. He'd been assigned to an infiltration mission to take out the leader of a rising dark guild. Once he saw that the coast was clear, he climbed out of the water and hid in a corner, pouring water from his mouth to collect any of the water on his body and return it from the small water system installed in this guild's base of operations. He then brushed his hands through his hair to its slick, laid-back self. "Alright. Trevor should have made a decent enough distraction outside by now. Now to find their boss."

After running through a few rooms with nothing inside, Wake stumbled upon a room with around 12 guards inside. _This many guards either means that this is where they keep all their treasure, or that they're protecting their boss. Either way, this'll be a piece of cake._ Wake took a deep breath and started pouring out a large amount of water, slipping it inside the room and shaping it to block the doorway. The guards inside tried to bust their way out but the water was rising too quickly, flooding the room within moments. Once Wake was certain that all the guards had fallen unconscious from lack of oxygen, he pulled all the water out of the room and out of their bodies, letting it spread out across the floor of the guild. "Damnit, now I'm dehydrated."

"Maybe you should have taken a water bottle before heading out." Wake turned his head to see a familiar pair of brown eyes and grey hair show up from around the corner. "Honestly, that little 'aquarium' technique as you call it always leaves you that way. You should really start planning ahead." Trevor reached into his pocket and threw a bottle of water at Wake.

Wake caught the bottle and opened it up, chugging the whole thing down in one go. "I can't help it, carrying a bottle water on my person would be too tempting to drink. Tsunari told me never to pass up on water when it's available. Anyway, I thought you were supposed to be causing a distraction."

Trevor chuckled and crossed his muscular arms. "I did. Got quite a lot of them to run outside. I gotta say, they may have a lot of them, but their members are incredibly weak. Took them all out pretty quickly." He looked into the previously flooded room and shook his head. "Must have been the same for these guys. The boss in the next room?"

"I hope so. But if it's not, I don't mind taking back a souvenir or two." He walks up to the door and kicks it open, seeing a rather skinny man inside who screamed when the door got busted open.

"W-Who are you?! How did you make it past all of my.." He cut himself off as he looked into the next room and saw all his guards unconscious on the ground. "Oh no!" He looked at the two teenagers in fear as he knew what this meant. "P-Please! Don't hurt me, I was just following orders from my superiors!"

Trevor raised an eyebrow as he pulled out the job request and read it thoroughly. _Target is a skinny man with a bald head, has a tattoo on the side of his face and uses fire magic._ "He fits the physical description alright. Never expected the leader of a dark guild to be such a coward."

Wake leans his head back and groans as this was just a massive disappointment. "Honestly, it feels like we didn't earn that reward at all. With how easy this job has been, we probably only earned about a quarter of it. Oh well, let's get this over with." He took a step forward towards the cowardly guild leader. "Marco Entus, in the name of the Serpent's Iris guild, we are taking you in."

The man known as Marco began to sweat a little as he put his hands into the air. "Very well. If it means I won't be harmed, I'll do whatever you say. Sike!" He slams his foot down onto a pressure plate, triggering the door behind the two boys to slam shut and the room to start filling with some kind of gas. "Now the both of you, burn!" Marco formed a magic circle on his chest, which engulfed his entire body in fire. The flames ignited the gas in the room, causing a large explosion that burst through the walls.

Trevor grunted as he was a bit shaky from the explosions. He was, for the most part, fine considering his magic causes explosions all the time and has taken quite of few of them himself. He looked at Wake, who was trembling from the blast, but more importantly, his body was emitting a lot of steam. "You really shouldn't have done that you know."

Marco cackled maniacally as his body was still engulfed in flames thanks to his Infernal Armor magic. "Oh yeah? And why shouldn't I? Your friend there looks to be in pretty bad shape."

Trevor sighed as he began to back away from Wake, knowing exactly what was going on. "Not only did you just throw away any chance of being taken in without a scratch, but you also just did the worst thing you could have possibly done to him. When he gets dried up because of fire magic, he loses self-control."

Wake grit his teeth and glared at Marco, his eyes much like a wild animal. His slick hair now dry and spiked up. "Water Dragon's Roar!" He fires a torrent of water from his mouth at the fire mage, launching the man out of the building and extinguishing the flaming body.

Marco grunted as he got back to his feet. Once again, he looked terrified beyond belief. "Y-You think that wimpy little attack's gonna stop me? There's a reason I chose this blazing hot canyon for my hideout! My magic grows infinitely more powerful the hotter it is!" His body seemed to dry up quickly and once more became engulfed in flames, said flames taking on a blue hue this time. He started throwing balls of fire at the dragon slayer, the flames igniting some dry grass and quickly creating a wild fire.

Wake engulfed his fist in water and ran towards Marco, punch the fire balls and extinguishing the fires while the fire was evaporating the water. Luckily he could create an endless amount of water. Once he got in close, he leapt up into the air and started doing a lot of front flips to build momentum. "Water Dragon Flood Talon!" He covered his entire leg in water and slammed his heel against Marco's head, extinguishing the fire and knocking out Marco as well, possibly causing a little brain damage as well. After that, Wake began to calm down and poured some water from his mouth and used it to return his hair to its slick self.

Trevor shook his head as Wake went a little overboard as usual. _Well, at least there wasn't any property to worry about water damages._ "Hey, Wake! Think you can deal with this fire? As fine as I am with letting these guys get burned to death from their boss's actions, we do need to worry about that village nearby."

Wake turned around and saw the growing fire, putting his hand on the back of his neck and sighing. "Yeah yeah, I'm on it." While he poured out some water to extinguish the fire, he noticed his knuckles were pretty burnt up. _Damn, that guy was a lot stronger than I gave him credit for. Man, this means Crysti will have to heal me. This just is not my best day._

After the fire was extinguished, the two of them rounded up all of the dark guild members and waited for the Rune Knights to show up and take them in. The guys were then given their reward and they took a train back to their town. Wake was in complete agony from the train ride back due to his motion sickness. Once they got back off the train, it was about an hour long walk through the grassy plains before they made it back to their home. The small cabin they'd once called home had been turned into a wooden fortress in the past six years. About 3 years ago, Grelmor had officially turned the five of their group into a guild so that requests could be given directly to them.

Wake pushed the giant doors open with ease and took a deep breath. "Hey, we're home!" When nobody answered, he sighed and walked to his little corner of the fortress where his room resides. _Maybe I got lucky and she isn't home._ He opened the door and his face went immediately red as he saw rose petals on his bed and a teenage girl with long, flowing blue and white hair, wearing a dress and winking at him.

"Welcome home, Wake. I hope you didn't get lonely." said the girl, getting up from the bed and walking over to the dragon slayer, pulling him into a hug.

Wake groaned in discomfort as Crysti had gotten into his personal space. He didn't mind her company and is always happy whenever she heals him. The one thing he couldn't deal with was that she'd become the world's biggest flirt to him, constantly bordering the line to of a platonic relationship. "Crysti, what have I told you about coming into my room without my permission, especially when I'm not here?"

Crysti giggled and pulled away, using Requip magic to change her clothes in an instant. She was now wearing a bright pair of tight looking skinny jeans and a yellow crop top with the word 'Love' written on it. "Come on Wake, it was all in good fun. Besides, it's not like you have anything in here worth hiding."

Wake groaned and moved to his bed, swiping off all the rose petals. "That isn't the point. It's an invasion of my privacy and you seem to think you own a spot in the private space."

Crysti sighed and looked away, ashamed that Wake refused to take the hint, even if he understood what the hint was. "Well it gets boring around here when you're gone. You and Trevor always go off on missions together, Xander's almost never home and Grelmor is always in his room. I never have anything to do!"

Wake scratched the back of his head. It's true that he constantly leaves her out of all the missions he goes on. Xander is almost never home, only around for one day a week. Plus Grelmor's recently come down with something and has refused to let anyone but Xander into his room. "Tell ya what, you can come with me on my next job, just you and me."

Crysti's eyes beamed with excitement, leaping at the dragon slayer in attempt to tackle-hug him. Wake was quick to respond, sliding out of the way. "Hey, come on. It's just a harmless hug."

Wake blushed and looked away from his only female friend. "I wouldn't call that move 'harmless' coming from you." Another reason he tried to keep distance around her is that her body has grown quite well in the chest department over the years, making his awkwardness towards her even more so. "Anyway, can you just get out? I'd like to change my clothes."

Crysti narrowed her eyes and grabbed onto Wake's arm, lifting it up and seeing the scorch marks on his knuckles. "You're not very good at hiding injuries from me you know. We bathed together as kids, I know how your body is supposed to look." She closed her eyes and created a magic circle, white light enveloping Wake's hands and making the burn marks fade away. "There. Don't try hiding your injuries again." With that, she stepped out the door and slammed it behind her, just a tad bit upset.

Wake sighed and took off his shirt and looked at himself in the mirror. It wasn't his idea to put a mirror in his room, Crysti was given this magic mirror as a reward for one of her missions and passed it onto him. He was rather pleased with himself, quite a good amount of muscle on him. Now if only he could do something about that paleness of his. He changed out of his 'hot weather outfit' and changed into a pair of black shorts and a light blue t-shirt. Once he was done changing, he stepped outside and took a stroll around the guild.

The place was quite big for a home just for five people, but nobody really complained. The cabin still resided inside at the center of the wooden fortress. Decoration-wise, there wasn't much to see other than two giant skeletal limbs looking like they were holding up the roof of the fortress. Light-emitting lacrima were posted in fixed spots of the fortress so that it isn't pitch black inside. Recently, Crysti has been trying to make the place look nice by painting the balls with art that symbolized everyone, with an ocean to resemble himself, a volcano to resemble Trevor, stars for Crysti, different landscapes for Xander and a graveyard for Grelmor. It was pretty amusing to see Grelmor looking offended by Crysti's decision.

Wake noticed Trevor walking around without his shirt, a habit the earth mage had when inside the guild. It was something everyone had gotten used to, though when he was seen with his shirt on inside the guild, it was obvious his girlfriend was coming to visit. This just wasn't that kind of day apparently. Wake couldn't quite understand why Trevor makes such a big deal of putting his shirt on for his girlfriend, the guy had very impressive muscles to show off. "Hey, Trevor. You seen Xander around? Today was supposed to be the day he came back."

The tan earth mage shook his head and crossed his arms. "I haven't. Only person I saw was Crysti storming off from the direction of your room. What'd you do this time?"

Wake groaned and shook his head. "I didn't do anything. Well, except for avoid a hug and forget to show her my wounds. Speaking of which, what about your injuries?"

Trevor grinned and flexed his muscles to show off his tough body. "That puny blast back there could never hurt me. I've taken bigger explosions by accidentally tripping and using my magic on myself."

Before Wake could comment on that, the door to the cabin swung open. Both Xander and Grelmor were standing in doorway, which surprised everyone considering Grelmor hadn't been physically seen for the past two weeks. The three teenagers ran up to try and hug their master in excitement, but Grelmor created a wall with his magic to keep them from touching him. "I appreciate you being happy to see me again, but I'm afraid my body's still recovering. But you can be happy to know that it's safe for me to be out again."

The teens looked at each other and nodded, smiling at their guild master and teacher. "Well it's just great having you back." said Wake. He then turned to Xander who was just standing there in silence. "So, where'd you run off to this time?"

Xander smiled and leaned his back against the wall. "I went to the a place called the Sun Village. It's a city of giants who worship an ever-burning flame. They also had an adorable little girl in the village, though she clearly wasn't a giant. Makes you wonder how she survives without getting stepped on."

Crysti was jumping up and down in excitement. She'd always been interested in Xander's adventures since he's pretty much gone to every corner of Fiore. "Just how big were the giants? What did this little girl look like? How old was she? Did you get any new magic?" It wasn't until Trevor beat her on the head that Crysti finally stopped asking questions.

Xander chuckled, amused how these teenagers still act like children to one another. For the most part anyway. "They were really big, I didn't even come up to their feet. The little girl's name was Flare, and she had the craziest set of hair I've ever seen. Well, except for Wake on a hot summer day." He listened with amusement as Wake clearly groaned at the comment. "I didn't catch her age, but if I had to guess I'd say she's roughly ten or eleven. As for my magic.." He gestured everyone to back up, then holding his hands out once everyone is at a safe distance. "Terra Shift: Lava World!" The ground in front of him started to rise up to form a small hill, then a crater formed in the center of the hill as the earth inside of it started to melt and form lava. "It was really risky, but on my way back I took a detour to check out an active volcano. A couple of mages were there to deal with it before it erupted but I still got a valuable technique."

Trevor stared at the micro volcano with interest. He'd never thought about trying his magic with molten earth before and was genuinely tempted to try it out now. Before he could do so, Wake completely engulfed the volcano in water, creating a lot of steam as the water cooled down the lava and returned it to solid stone.

Grelmor cleared his throat to grab everyone's attention. "Now, if I could kindly get your attention, there's something I'd like to share with you all. You all have been growing exceptionally powerful and it'd just be a waste to throw away that potential. So, in one month, I'll be holding Serpent Iris' first official S-class trial. I'll be eagerly awaiting if you're good enough to take on S-class requests."

Wake, Crysti and Trevor went wide-eyed and simultaneously grinned with excitement. They've been waiting for this chance for quite some time now. The one most excited was Crysti, since she never got a chance to show off her fighting capabilities. She turned around and smirked at the two boys. "Be sure to keep up. I won't be able to heal you if you get hurt."

Trevor began to laugh and punched his fist together. "Dream on, I'll leave you guys in the dust. And if there isn't any dust to leave you in, I'll just make some."

Wake sighed, not really the competitive type. He was still excited to show off his skill and prove he's good enough to be considered S-class, especially it was Grelmor who taught him how to use his magic in ways he never thought possible. "You see what you've done? You got them all riled up. Now you can't make this trial easy."

Grelmor sighed with a smile as he was aware of what he'd done. "Just be sure not to overexert yourselves. No going on missions a week before the exams, otherwise you likely won't be at your best. Do I make myself clear?"

The three of them nodded before the meeting was dispersed, Grelmor going back inside the cabin and Xander heading off to his room to get some sleep. Trevor went off to his room to use his communication lacrima to talk to his girlfriend, leaving Crysti and Wake alone together in awkward silence.

"Soo.." said Crysti as she attempted to break the silence. "I think I have an idea on what job we can go on." She hands him to request sheet, looking a bit too excited about it. "I know it's pretty far but it should only last about two days."

Waek takes the request and looks at it. To summarize it, it's asking to solve the mystery of the starless nights on an island. Wake felt a bit suspicious of what Crysti might be planning but figured this job would be the best situation for her. "Alright, we can head out tomorrow. I need to rest. I'll be having a long swim since I refuse to ride on a boat." He started heading for his room and immediately stopped when she heard footsteps following him. "You're not sleeping in my room, so make your way to the other side of the guild."

Crysti pouted and crossed her arms. "Party pooper." She turned around and made her way to the room on the opposite end of the guild. Once she stepped inside and closed the door behind her, she sighed. She stared at the countless pictures and paintings of the guild members plastered all over her walls, smiling as she was always by Wake's side in the pictures they were in together. "That jerk. There's no way he hasn't realized." She picked up a framed picture that she keeps right next to her bed, seeing the two of them as kids right by a lake. She'll always remember that day.

 **Year X779**

It was a hot summer day. They were still too young to go on missions so they were trapped inside the cabin all day. At some point, Crysti suggested Wake use his magic to cool everyone off, but the young dragon slayer was suffering too much from the heat to produce any water. It was thanks to Xander, who'd just gotten back from one of his trips, that they were saved. The adult wizard used his magic to create a large lake within the open fields for the five of them to cool off.

Wake didn't hesitate to run up and hop into the lake, taking off his shirt as he ran, diving into the water. He sprung his head out of the water and looked happier than any of them have ever seen him. "Oh man, it's been so long since I've been able to swim like this. You're the best, Xander!"

Xander laughed as he leaned against the cabin's wall, watching the dragon slayer swim around and enjoying himself. "It was nothing. I'm just trying to make this place more lively for everyone."

Grelmor smiled and placed his hand on the young wizard's shoulder. "Nonsense. You've done wonderfully. These children might have shriveled up more than I have if you hadn't produced this water for them. You're becoming an excellent wizard and a spectacular caretaker for these children."

Xander scratched the back of his head nervously, nervous from getting praised from the man who taught him. "Thank you master. Speaking of shriveled, why don't you look any different in this heat? There's not even a drop of sweat on you."

Grelmor whistled innocently as he merely decides to walk away and dip his feet into the water. Trevor did a cannonball into the lake and produced a rather impressive splash. A little too impressive. The boy rose up from the water and laughed. "How was that? I'd call that an amazing splash if i do say so myself."

Wake rolled his eyes. "You're a total cheater. You used your magic to created an explosion under you to make the splash bigger."

Trevor glared at the younger boy. "Oh yeah? Then let's see you do better without your magic!"

Wake grinned as he dove into the water. He swam down to the center of the lake, where it's deepest, and planted his feet against the ground. He launched himself up and swam at incredible speeds, shooting out of the water like a water and getting a lot of air time. "Cannonball!" He crashed down against the water and left a large splash. He swam back to the surface and laughed. "Now that's a splash."

Trevor looked in pure shock at Wake, hardly believing that the boy could have possibly done that without using his magic. "How did you launch yourself up that high? That was awesome!"

Wake chuckled and swam circles around Trevor. "It was part of my dragon slayer training. Tsunari once told me 'to become a true water dragon slayer, you must learn to be a master of the water itself.'"

Crysti watched in amazement as the two boys were able to have a lot of fun in the water. She looked into the water and shivered nervously at how deep it was. Grelmor snuck up behind the young girl. The girl jumped in surprise as she finally noticed the old man's shadow and turned around to face him. "H-Hello, Mr. Grelmor."

Grelmor ruffled his hand through Crysti's hair as a sign of affection. "Hello, yound Crysti. Tell me, why do you stand here at the water's edge and not join them down in the center?"

Crysti looked down and sighed, twiddling her thumbs together. "W-Well, it's just that.. I can't really swim. I never really got an opportunity to learn."

Grelmor raised an eyebrow in both curiosity and surprise. A mischievous smile formed on his face as he looked at the expert swimming water dragon slayer. "Well then, perhaps we can have a pro teach you. Wake! I have a request for you!"

Wake turned his head to look at Grelmor, diving under the water and popping up in front of the two waiting at the edge of the lake within a couple seconds. "Yeah, what is it?"

Grelmor gently pushed Crysti forward, moving her more into the water and making her shake from the coldness of the lake. "Young Crysti here isn't able to swim. I was hoping that you'd be able to teach her."

Wake looked to Crysti for comformation, in which the young girl nodded nervously. "Alright. I know it'll be tough since you can't breathe underwater, but we can at least start with the basics."

Grelmor walked away from the children and approached Xander once more. "I suppose you're wondering why I chose Wake rather than her childhood friend."

Xander merely shrugged at the assumption. "No, I can understand your reasoning for having the water mage teach her, but go ahead and explain your reasoning."

Grelmor sweatdropped a bit nervously as he hadn't even thought about it that way. "Well, I suppose that's another reason, but not the one I was going for. It was more for the fact that girl has little confidence whatsoever. I merely thought that Wake, who is confident in pretty much everything he does, could help her gain confidence. All I see her getting from Trevor is comfort."

"Ah, that makes a lot of sense." said Xander, looking at the two children by the edge of the lake, seeing that Crysti was attempting to swim in place under the safe guidance of the young boy. "Though I don't think being around a confident person makes a person confident. I think the only real way to get confidence is to be forced into a situation where you don't have a choice but to stand your ground."

Grelmor chuckled and pat his apprentice on the back. "I taught you well. Very well then, let's see if she has any confidence in her." He placed his hand together and created the magic circle for his magic. "Soul Make: Serpent!"

Bursting from the water, a giant green serpent arose. The souls forming it took a solid shape and patterned scales to make it for more convincing. Wake turned around, preparing to fight it, but the serpent lunged right for Crysti. Wake knew exactly who the monster was going for and pushed her out of the way. The serpent caught the young dragons slayer in its mouth and chomped down, forcing the boy down its body. The souls held an effect over wake that drained him of his energy, making sure he doesn't interfere with the plan.

Trevor watched in horror as his friend was eaten by the giant reptile. He grit his teeth and swam down, planting his hand along the ground and using his magic to make the ground underneath the snake explode, though not very strongly since he had to sacrifice strength for distance.

The serpent then turned its attention away from Crysti and went after Trevor, diving under the water. "N-No, stop!" shouted Crysti, scared about what was happening so suddenly. She was about to run after it but stopped as she remembered she couldn't swim.

Xander and Grelmor watched from a distance, keeping themselves out of sight by using a simple illusionary magic. They paid close attention to see if Crysti would risk to save her friends, prepared to intervene if the girl hesitates to long.

Crysti swallowed nervously as she leapt into the water, using the few instructions she'd gotten from Wake to swim after Trevor, who was currently swimming around to avoid getting eaten. She struggled at first but soon got the basics of it, catching up with Trevor and tries to shield him with herself. At that moment, a white magic circle formed in front of her and a being showed up out of nowhere.

The being looked human in most regards, but his body was adorned in scars, had several weapons holstered all over his body and a glowing belt. The being was standing atop the water and pulled out a sword, waiting for the opportune moment before slicing the serpent, separating the souls holding it together and forcing it to move around them. This being then vanished as quickly as it came. Crysti then passed out immediately after this being vanished, forcing Trevor to hold onto her and keep her afloat.

The serpent circled back around and was going after the children once more, but stopped about 10 feet away, its head starting to bulge up. Its eye then suddenly burst open and water came flooding out of it, along with Wake. Wake turned around and took a deep breath. "Water Dragon's Roar!" He fired a torrent of water against the serpent's injury and the souls holding it together were being forced apart by the growing weight and pressure of the water, disappearing entirely.

Meanwhile, both Xander and Grelmor were more shocked by the feet of magic that Crysti pulled off. "That magic, that was a celestial spirit, wasn't it?" asked Xander.

"Yes. I believe that spirit is known as Orion, a rather powerful silver key spirit, nearly on par with the zodiac spirits." said Grelmor, only just noticing his serpent had been destroyed. "Even if she passed out after summoning him, to be able to do that both without a key and for even that amount of time.. She's got a lot of potential, that's for sure."

Wake brought both Trevor and Crysti back to land and held onto Crysti. "Crysti! Come on, you have to wake up! Crysti"

After coughing a bit, Crysti slowly opened up her eyes. The first thing she saw was Wake and she immediately got up and hugged him. "Wake! Thank god, you're okay!"

Wake blushed as the girl hugged him, smiling and decided to hug her back. "Yeah, I'm okay." He looked at Trevor and smiled more. "Thanks to Trevor. Whatever you did to open that thing up, water flooded inside of it, giving me the strength needed to break out."

"Actually, that wasn't me. I managed to distract it from Crysti, but the one to damage it was this weird glowing guy. He reminded me of some of the guys Crysti's mom was able to summon with her keys." explained Trevor, helping Crysti back to her feet.

Xander walked up and clapped with pride. "Excellent work, all of you. While I'm sure that was quite shocking, there's no need to worry. It was just a test to see if you all were ready. And congratulations to you, Crysti. You've learned how to swim."

The three of them looked at each other with confusion, having trouble believing that giant monster was just a test for them. Crysti looked excited however and jumped for joy as it dawned on her that she really could swim now. She hugged Wake again. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're an amazing teacher."

Wake blushed again, feeling awkward this time since he'd only taught her the basics. "I-It's nothing." He returned his attention to Xander. "Ready for what exactly."

Grelmor was cackling as he approached the four of them. "To see if you're ready to go out into the world and make your names for yourselves as mages." He held up a guild submission form. "I've been thinking about it for the past year, ever since I found you three. We should make ourselves a guild. Then we can get jobs directly and build up this place a bit more."

The three of them beamed with joy and jumped into the air, excited for this. Crysti nearly fell over due to her exhaustion, but Wake managed to catch her and keep her upright. Xander smiled and put his hand to his chin. "Looks like they're on board. Now all we need is a name for this little guild of ours."

The children all looked down as they started trying to think of a name. Wake looked towards the water and was worried they'd get after him for this idea. "What about Serpent's Eye?"

Grelmor was actually surprised at this suggestion, finding it not that bad. "It's a pretty decent name. Though to add a fancier spin on it, how about using the word iris instead of eye? Serpent's Iris. I think that has a nice ring to it. Thoughts?"

Trevor and Crysti nodded, having no complaints about this name. Xander rolled his eyes, finding the name a little too convenient and simple. But he didn't speak up about it since he didn't have a much better idea.

"Very well. From this day forward, we shall be known as the guild, Serpent's Iris."

* * *

 **And that's another chapter done. I wasn't expecting to make the chapter this long and planned to make this 2 separate chapter, but the first part wasn't long enough so I wrote the second part anyway. I have to say, I'm really enjoying writing this so far and am happy that I was talked into making it. Shout out to Daige, who convinced me to write a Fairy Tail story. Go check his story "Fairy Aeolus", it's not bad. And no, he didn't ask me to shout him out. Anywho, that's all from me. Tune in next time for the next chapter of Serpent's Iris.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Year X784**

Wake sighed as he was waiting outside the train station. He certainly wasn't gonna enjoy the train ride, but at least Crysti was gonna be there. He'd always felt less affected by his motion sickness whenever he was with her, probably because his instinct to escape her was far greater. He noticed he was getting quite a few from the local girls of the town, something he'd never get used to. _Damn looks._ After a few more minutes of waiting, his guildmate finally showed up, carrying an unnaturally large suitcase. "You do realize we won't be gone for long? A case that large is meant for a week long trip."

Crysti pouted and placed her hand on her hip. "This isn't just clothes and stuff. It's a bunch of stuff that master Grelmor gave me in regards to my magic. If where we're going happens to be some sort of celestial hot spot, I might be able to create my first key." She struggled to carry her bag up the steps, looking a little panicked when she heard the sound of the train's whistle.

Wake rolled his eyes and sighed, grabbing Crysti's bag and lifting it with little effort. "Come on, we're gonna be late for the train. I may hate vehicles, but I hate being late even more" He could hear Crysti grumble in frustration and chuckled, finding his friend's unhappiness amusing.

The two of them stepped onto the train the very moment it began to move, triggering Wake's motion sickness. The dragon slayer nearly fell off the train, but Crysti grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him back in. "For goodness sake, you can't even hold it back for two seconds?" She leans him over her soldier and pulls him to an empty seat, struggling to lift her suitcase into the compartment above them, having no choice but to do it herself since Wake is useless for the next hour.

Wake grumbled and pulled out a water bottle his bag, taking a drink to calm his nerves. "It's been a long time since I went to the port town of Hargeon. A couple months before finding you and Trevor."

Crysti finally got her bag into the compartment and took a seat, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a packaged cookie. "Oh yeah? A port town must be a dream come true for you, all that water as far as the eye can 'sea'?" She giggled at her crappy joke.

Wake groaned and put his arms to his stomach, in too much agony to enjoy Crysti's attempt at humor. "I wish, but Tsunari always told me I wasn't allowed to drink salt water to replenish my magic until I completely master it, whatever that's supposed to mean."

Crysti took a bite out of her cookie and thought while she ate. "You know, we've been friends for six years now and you bring up Tsunari a lot, though I don't think I've ever asked what they were like. I know they were the dragon who raised you, but you never told us what it was like being raised by a dragon."

Wake looked up at Crysti, a little surprised himself that this question had never come up. He took a large gulp from his water bottle to temporarily settle his motion sickness. "Tsunari was a bit complicated. When it came to training, she would push me to the point of exhaustion. Said she refused to raise an even weaker dragon slayer than Igneel, whoever that is. I'm assuming another dragon."

Crysti nodded as she took another bite out of her cookie, wiping away some of the crumbs from her lap. "So they're even more dragon slayers out there? Possibly even stronger than you? That's a little scary to think. But I don't see how that makes her complicated."

Wake grunted again, his motion sickness returning. He chugged down the rest of his water and stuffed the empty bottle into his bag, pulling out another one. "What made her complicated was the fact that outside of training, she was probably the sweetest person you'd ever meet. When I got hungry, she'd find the biggest fish to feed me. When I got hurt, she'd use this trick with her magic to heal me with water, something I really want to learn but don't have any way to do so until I find her. And when I got scared, she'd put her body close to mine and create rainbow light from her beautiful scales."

Crysti finished her cookie and smiles, glad to learn what the person who raised Wake was like. "Sounds like the ideal parent. She probably wanted the best for you and make sure you'd be fine on your own."

Wake nodded, taking a deep breath as his motion sickness wasn't kicking back in yet. "Yeah, but I would have liked to learn more of my magic than the basics. Only advanced technique i learned was how to manipulate my dragon water."

"So, have you ever met another dragon? Or at least another dragon slayer?" Crysti asked, not wanting to add to the subject on Wake producing water from his mouth the way he does.

Wake leaned back in his seat as he tried to remember. "I think I do remember one time. I remember once meeting a young girl even younger than me who used some kind of wind element dragon slayer magic. Her dragon was also female and was pure white with feathers. I remember making a comment that I thought it was a giant bird or something. Can't for the life of me remember either of their names." Before he could attempt to remember, his motion sickness kicked back in and with a vengeance, causing him to topple onto his side and groan for the rest of the train ride.

Crysti sighed and changed seats to rest his head in her lap. She tapped the side of his head and used her magic to send him to sleep while she continuously used her magic to keep his motion sickness at bay so he could comfortably sleep. "I sure hope that I can meet Tsunari one day. I've got a lot to ask her, including why she never taught you how to deal with girls."

The rest of the train ride was pretty peaceful overall. There were a few times that people commented that the two of them were such a cute couple, to which Crysti didn't deny that and simply thanked the people who said it. They eventually made it to Hargeon and Crysti woke Wake up.

The dragon slayer stood up and groaned. He felt quite comfortable due to his ally's magic, but he always had a lack of energy whenever he woke up after being put down from her sleep magic. He reached up to grab Crysti's bag and headed off the train as quickly as possible, not wanting to risk getting stuck on it due to motion sickness. He took a deep breath and a wide grin formed on his face. "Ah, the scent of sea water, there's nothing quite like it."

Crysti stepped off the train carrying Wake's bag that he completely forgot. "Speaking of water, why is this bag filled with only water bottles? You didn't even bring an extra pair of clothes."

Wake snatched his bag from Crysti and handed her the suitcase. "Hey, I have an element easily accessed that other dragon slayers could have trouble getting. I need to be prepared in case we get into a fight." He pulled out one of the water bottles and chugged it down to restore the stamina he was lacking. "Besides, I don't know a thing about where we're going, I might not get a chance to replenish my water bottles once we're there. Also because master Grelmor packed it for me, despite telling him I'd be too tempted to drink it."

Crysti rolled her eyes and started walking off, her crush following close behind. "Well, the ship that'll be taking us is waiting, so we should skip out on sightseeing." She looked around as she walked, essentially ignoring her own words as she took in the environment. The two of them made their way to the dock where a small ship had a thin man with an eyepatch sleeping on the railing. "Excuse me, is captain Horncrook here?"

The man stumbled and fell off the railing, landing on the deck of the ship. He stood up as if nothing happened, looking down at the two standing on the dock. "That depends, who's asking?"

Wake leaned his head to the left to show off the guild mark branded on it. Crysti pulled up the skirt of her dress to show off the guild mark resting just above her knee. Wake blushed a bit as Crysti did this, questioning why she had to have it branded there. "We're members of the Serpent's Iris guild, we were told to meet the captain of this ship here so he could take us to the island that requested us."

The man nods and he pops his neck. "Unfortunately, the cap'n is likely down in the local tavern, drunk beyond belief. If you could get him back here, I could snap him back to his normal self. Trouble is that won't be an easy task."

Both of the mages looked at each other, then back up to the man on the ship. "Sure, just tell us where we can find him." said Wake.

The man nodded and hopped off of the ship, then pointing down the docks. "About a five minute walk from here, you'll find the tavern. The cap'n usually tests people into arm wrestling matches with that prosthetic arm of his when he's drunk. He doesn't leave until he's either beaten or passes out drunk." He grabs the mages' bags and brings them onto the ship. "And just to warn you, he doesn't go down easy."

Wake gave a thumbs up as he started walking over to the tavern, Crysti in close proximity. There were quite a few unsavory individuals that made themselves known during their walk, but the only one who actually put their hands on Crysti met a water covered fist directly to their jaw. Nobody else attempted to get near them as they finally got to the tavern, kicking the door open. "Hey, is Morgan Horncrook here?"

Everyone in the tavern turned to look at the teenagers setting foot into the building, silence enveloping the place. The silence was then broken by the sound of screaming as a guy was rolling on the ground with what looked like a broken arm. The screaming was followed by laughter from a rather large man with a cloak covering his body, the only thing visible being a large gauntlet covering his entire forearm, its material likely being steel. "I tried to warn ya son, there ain't nobody in this tavern who'll beat me today."

Crysti ran up to the man screaming in pain, ripping some of her skirt off to bind his arm and help it while she uses her magic to heal it. Within seconds, the man's scream went silent as his arm was no longer in pain and was in much better condition than it's felt in a long time. "Don't put any strain on it for a couple hours and it'll be ready to use like nothing happened."

The man sitting at the table slammed his steel covered arm against the table, shaking the glass on every table in the tavern. "Hey girly, who are you to go healing him? If he doesn't feel the pain from losing to me, he won't learn not to try again."

Wake was busy examining the gauntlet while all of this was going on. He'd noticed their was another metal plated into it, likely lead to weigh it down. _Talk about a way to cheat people out. Lucky for him, Trevor didn't come with us._ He made his way and sat across the man in the cloak. "That girly was just doing a good thing, unlike you. You're captain Horncrook I take it?"

The man grabbed the massive mug containing his drink and drank from it, slamming it down after finishing it and letting out a deep sigh. "Yeah, I'm captain Morgan Horncrook, one of the best damn in this port. What's it to you?"

Wake reached into his pocket and pulled out the request sheet, sliding it along the table for Horncrook to read. "You already agreed to take whoever accepted this to the island. Wouldn't want something bad to happen to you if they found out you were getting drunk instead of doing your job."

Horncrook stared down at the flier and then up to the green haired teen, bursting out laughing. "Guess the rumors I heard about you are true, you Serpent mages really don't stall to get the job done. Fine, I'll leave, on the condition that you face me in an arm wrestling match."

Wake looked a bit stunned at the request. He leaned his head back to look at Crysti, seeing if she thinks it's a good idea. When he saw his friend nod to him, he lowered his head to look at Horncrook again. "Alright fine, I take it no magic allowed?"

Horncrook nodded as he pulled out a bottle of alcohol from under his cloak, sliding it across the table. "If the magic affects your arm, it's allowed. If not, don't use it. Lastly, rule around here is that you're not allowed to challenge me if you don't have a bit of alcohol in your system. I'll raise my arm up after you take a swig of it."

Crysti grabbed the bottle and lifted it above her head. "Absolutely not! While I'm sure nobody in here would argue against giving my friend some of this, I refuse to let him drink any of this when we're on a job."

"Crysti, just hand me the bottle. I'd like to get this over with so we can get the job done as soon as possible." He held up his hand for Crysti to hand him the bottle. After a few moments of hesitation, he was finally given the bottle. He chugged the whole thing down and slammed the empty bottle against the table, his eyes already a little droopy.

"Looking a little tipsy there lad, you sure you wanna do this?" asked Horncrook as he slammed his elbow on the table, holding up his hand as he awaited the challenge. "I won't hold it against ya if you wanna back out now."

Wake shook his head and put his arm on the table, aiming to lock hands with Horncrook's metal prosthetic, but missed. He got it the second time and surrounded his fist in his water magic, though it had a murky look to it, much like swamp water.

Both combatants didn't hesitate to start pushing against each other, neither of them budging. Most of the men inside were pretty pissed that this teen was holding his own against Horncrook, but were also happy that the drunk captain wasn't winning immediately again. Crysti was biting her lip as she was worried for Wake's safety.

"Gotta admit. You're not bad for a little shrimp. But that the best you got?" asked Horncrook, tightening his grip as he tries to crush Wake's hand.

Wake laughs a little awkwardly in his drunken state, slowly pushing the metal arm back. "You must not be have any feeling in that arm if you cant feel that pressure." He shifts his eyes down to show Horncrook that the metal was slowly denting.

The ship captain widened his eyes in shock at the development. "Heh, clever. Very well, guess I gotta end this and get back to work." He tightens his grip even more and grits his teeth as he slams Wake's arm against the table with little effort, throwing the dragon slayer across the tavern afterwards. "Girly, heal him up. We got to take."

Crysti didn't need to be told to go help Wake. Luckily, and surprisingly, all that Wake suffered was his arm getting dislocated. The Star Maiden user fixed his arm back into place and used her magic to wipe away any pain that might have occured. Seeing that Wake was too drunk to walk straight, she supported him all the way back to the ship, where the man on the ship was waiting.

"Ah, Cap'n! I didn't expect them to bring you back so soon. And you don't look nearly as drunk as usual." he said, saluting to the captain as the hulking man stepped aboard the ship.

"Gunny, what did I tell you about saluting? You're an ex-pirate, not a sailor. Now, go deal with the boy, I gotta prepare the ship for sailing." said Horncrook, heading for his quarters.

"Already did that, cap'n. Ship's perfectly seaworthy, just needs your command to go." said Gunny, walking over to the mages and seeing Wake completely out of it. "Think he went overboard, and if he can't hold his liquor down, his lunch is gonna go overboard too."

"Trust me, I don't think it'll be the liquor that'll cause that." remarked Crysti as she sat down and rested Wake's head in her lap. "If you have any spare freshwater, bring it here, it'll help his stomach keep everything down."

Gunny nodded as he went inside the ship to go find some water. Horncrook in the meantime had already pulled up the anchor and got the ship going, aiming it in the direction they need to go. "Now, I must warn ya, where you're going is a hot spot for all kinds of nasty beasts. That water-wielding friend of yours better be better at fighting than at arm wrestling if ya wanna survive. But if you do make it to the peak of the island, I highly recommend the hot springs."

Crysti's eyes glimmered at the mention of hot springs, imagining how show could get into the same spring as Wake. "Yeah, there's no need to worry, Wake is the best fighter I know, save for our master. And if any of the monsters there attack with fire, then we'll be especially good."

Gunny came back out with a bucket full of water as well as a glass to scoop it up in. "This was all the water I was able to spare. We'll kinda need the rest for ourselves. It'll be a few hours before we make port."

The mage just nodded as she she tended to the drunk and suffering dragon slayer, feeding him water to keep him from throwing up. As she felt the swaying of the ship and the feel of Wake's head in her lap reminding her of a time in their childhood when a similar situation happened.

 **Year X779**

Wake crashed into a tree and landed on the ground. He groaned as he stood up and looked around. _Damnit master, can't you at least get rid of all these trees if you're gonna hit me like that?_ His ear twitched as he heard some leaves rustling behind and turned around to attack, only to take a large fist to the face that sent him flying once more.

Grelmor sighed as he sat on the top of the cabin. "Is this boy truly a dragon slayer? He hardly uses his senses to his advantage." He held out his hand and created a magic circle. "Soul Make: Cobra!" A large torrent of souls emerged from Grelmor's body and took the form of a large Cobra, roughly 10 feet in length. The snake slid down the side of the cabin and into the plethora of trees.

Xander was just lying on the surface of the roof, resting his head over his hands as he stared up at the sky. "You could be a bit gentler you know. You might be holding back but you're still plenty powerful, as well as the fact that he's a child. Also, did you really need me to make such a thick forest?"

The old man groaned and closed his eyes, seeing through the eyes of his multiple creations to see how all 3 children are holding up. Wake was still having trouble avoiding all the created monsters, unable to get a single attack in, Trevor was running away from the beasts after him, seeing as there aren't any hard earth materials for him to utilize, and Crysti was nowhere to be seen, doing a great job of hiding from him. "If these children want to go on official jobs to get money for the guild, then they need to learn to utilize their skills individually. They won't always have each others' backs."

Crysti looked down from a branch that she was perched on, seeing the glow of the soul beasts underneath her through all the leaves. She carefully climbed from branch to branch, trying to avoid making noise. She was given an enchanted dagger to fight with since her magic wasn't offensive, but she didn't have the stomach to attack the beasts, even if she knew they weren't actually alive. She could hear Wake shouting in the distance and slowly made her way in that direction.

Trevor was panting of breath, backed into a corner by the beasts as he couldn't run anymore and there was a literal wall of trees blocking him. He stared down both a spider and a wolf made of Grelmor's soul magic, both of them larger in size than him. "Guess I have no choice." He knelt down and pressed his hand to the ground, creating a magic circle under the beasts. "Dirt Eruption!" The ground under the beasts exploded and knocked the beasts back, though didn't deal enough damage to slow them down. "Crap, where's the solid stone when you need.. It?" He noticed that some sizable rocks had been flung out of the ground during his attack and had gotten an idea.

Wake on the other hand was dealing with too much for him to handle. He was dealing with a gorilla, an octopus and now a cobra. He pressed his hand to his side, where he'd taken a pretty nasty hit earlier. "You think I'm scared of you?! Water Dragon's R-" He was unable to finish his sentence and attack as the octopus smacked him across the face and sent him flying into another tree. The cobra rushed in to get the boy while he was down. Wake opened his mouth and let water start flowing out of his mouth, letting it build up around the cobra and trapping it inside. He grunted as he couldn't do much else with that as he started climbing the tree that he was flung into. The gorilla didn't hesitate to start punching the tree's base, trying to knock the tree down as well as the child in it.

Grelmor sighed, grabbing his staff as he tried to stand back up. "I suppose it can't be helped. These children simply aren't ready to deal with big jobs." He held his staff out and was about to recall all of the spirit beasts he had summoned but widened his eyes in surprise at what was to come next.

Trevor was covered in cuts and bruises now in an attempt to grab the rocks while under attack by the spider and wolf. He chuckled as he stared the beasts down. The wolf was the first to run at the boy, opening its jaw to bite the boy. Trevor created magic circles on all of the rocks in his arms and chucked them at the wolf, one of which actually landing in its mouth. The rocks all detonated and scattered the beast into pieces, the scattered souls returning to Grelmor. Trevor then knelt down and the ground shook as his magic went off several times but didn't seem to be visible. The spider rushed for the boy, who simply rolled out of the way as the trees behind him started to fall and collapse onto the spider. "Stupid animals." He then collapsed onto the ground as he was low on energy.

Crysti watched as Wake was in serious trouble and jumped down from the tree she was in, screaming as she ran towards the gorilla with the dagger pointed towards it. The octopus took notice of her and smacked her away, not wanting her to get in the way. She stood back to her feet and grunted, definitely not okay since her body is a lot more fragile than the boys'. Nevertheless, she rushes for the octopus instead, which tried to swat her away once more. Crysti learned from the last hit and ducked under, holding the knife up and let the octopus's own momentum drive the blade through the tentacle, severing it. Crysti the lunged at the octopus and pierced it with the dagger, killing it and returning the souls back to Grelmor. The girl then threw up as she'd just done a lot of things her body wasn't built to do.

With the octopus dead and the cobra still encased in a watery prison, this left only the gorilla. Wake picked up on the situation quickly and leapt from the tree, falling right for the soul beast. The gorilla prepared a vicious looking punch for the boy, but Wake was prepared this time. "Water Dragon's Flood Talon!" His foot became enveloped in water and slammed it against the beast's approaching fist. He grunted as the impact hurt his leg quite a bit but did bring a smile to his face as the gorilla was pushed back. "Now the follow up. Water Dragon's Roar!" He unleashed a torrent of pressurized water from his mouth at the gorilla, pushing back and crashing through a few trees.

"He certainly doesn't disappoint in terms of power. Perhaps it's time I test the extent of it." said Grelmor, holding out his staff. His eyes started to glow as his hair went from a faded white to a dark green and stuck straight up. Every soul beast that were originally after Crysti broke into raw magic once more and glowed right into the gorilla, as well as extra power directly from Grelmor. "Soul Make: Dragon!" The gorilla started to change shape and increase in size, its fist turning into talons and its hairy body turning into a scaly surface, soon taking the guise of a full dragon.

Wake trembled as he stared at this dragon, feeling the immense magical power radiating off of it. To him, it almost felt like he was confronting a real dragon himself. He took notice of how Crysti was nearby and worried that she might get hurt. "Don't be afraid. You're a dragon slayer, this is something you're trained to do." He stares up and the dragon and took a deep breath. "Water Dragon's Roar!" He unleashed yet another torrent of water at the dragon, this once much bigger than the other before as he was pooling all the strength he could into this attack. Unfortunately, it did very little against the dragon, not even make it budge. He coughed as that last attack not only left him with very little magic power left, but also very dehydrated.

The dragon raised its foreleg, preparing to strike down on the child. A brown magic circle appeared in front of Wake and detonated the ground, pushing Wake backwards. This happened multiple times, knocking the child away from the attack and saving him. "I thought you said you were a dragon slayer. Is that just a name to make yourself feel better?" asked Trevor, trying to replace Wake's apparent fear with anger.

Wake groaned as he stood up, holding onto his shoulder as the momentum he'd collected from being blasted multiple times had dislocated his shoulder. "Shut up, we both know that isn't an actual dragon. But if this is mister Grelmor's full power, then it's scary enough to actually be one." He needed to rehydrate quickly if he's going to put up any sort of a fight. Sadly there wasn't any water for him to work with nearby. None except the water prison he made earlier, which could hydrate him but would both taste terrible and wouldn't replenish any of his strength. He thought so at least until he saw the water had gained a dark green tint as the soul magic from the cobra that was trapped inside had apparently died and its energy spread throughout the water. He wasn't sure if eating that might replenish his energy but had no choice but to try. He was about to run over to the water when Crysti tackle him and Trevor, knocking them both out of the way from the dragon's attacks.

"T-Thank goodness that you're both okay. I know this is training, b-but it's still terrifying nonetheless to think of you guys being hurt." She held out both hands on both of the boys, creating white magic circles. Threads of pure lights started surrounding their wounds and closing them, covering them up as well. She also noticed Wake's shoulder was dislocated and did what she thought would fix it. It worked but the dragon slayer screamed in pain as she did it. "I-I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks for the help." The young mage was blushing a bit from being saved and healed by the girl, unsure how exactly he was gonna pay her back later. He then used the little bit of his magic power he had left to pull the sphere of darkened water to them. "Crysti, if my body starts to look bad after this, I want you to fix me up. Can I trust you?"

Crysti blushed a little as Wake was putting his trust in her. She then nodded. "Y-Yeah, I promise."

Trevor in the meanwhile was using his magic to created multiple explosions around the dragon's feet, trying to keep it unbalanced. He was looking quite tired as he was using his magic at the maximum possible distance he could do at his current strength. "Would you lovebirds stop flirting and just do it already please?!"

Wake nodded as he plunged his head into the water and opened his mouth sucking it all in. Crysti was blushing heavily and became distracted at the thought of her and Wake being lovebirds together. She snapped back to reality as she saw that the water that Wake was drinking was gone and the young dragon slayer was spazzing uncontrollably, screaming loudly as he was in immense pain. Crysti tried her best to heal him but the slayer wouldn't stop screaming.

Grelmor watched in intense curiosity, leaving the dragon to wait on standby to see if any kind of positive result were to come of this. If the worst starts to show, he could always force the soul magic out of him. That process would likely leave young boy in a coma for a couple weeks but he'd at least be fine. Luckily, after a few minutes, Wake's screaming finally stopped and the finishing result was something that truly baffled the old mage.

Wake stood there, his hair sticking on end and his body steaming. His seafoam green hair sporting dark green tips and was no longer slicked back, sticking out like sharp spikes. He had a spiral of water surrounding his body and a spiral of soul magic crossing around him like a double helix. The boy took a deep breath and unleashed a breath attack, only it was much bigger than any of the ones before and soul energy spiraled around it. The attack slammed against the dragon and was able to pushed it back, destroying a lot of the trees. The dragon was about to hit the cabin so Grelmor returned all the magic comprising the dragon back into his own body, refusing to let anything happen to the cabin. After that attack, Wake's appearance turned back to normal, save for his hair which still looked a little spiked up but not as much. He collapsed onto the ground without even a word, his eyes open but clearly not conscious. Crysti placed his head in her lap and did whatever she could to heal him, panicking as he wasn't responding to her healing and was hardly breathing.

Grelmor looked dumbfounded at the events that just transpired. "In all my years, I've never witnessed something like that happening. I doubt he could pull that trick again on his own, nor will he want to upon hearing about it. But perhaps dragon slayers have more tricks to them than I originally thought. Xander, go let them know that he's going to be alright. I need to go to my study."

* * *

 **And that's chapter 3 of this story. Originally, I wasn't sure how I was going to push this story along since I hadn't had much time to prep it out. Then I figured why not do a little dynamic not well done before: Write a part of the story sticking out in the present day and also fill space with flashback parts to show how these kids developed. Since this is a new story and I doubt I have many real fans, I doubt many of you like Trevor at the moment, but I do plan to give him actual development as well. I hope you like it because I'm really trying with this story the best I can. I'll try to have the next chapter done within 2 weeks. Till next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

Wake woke up in utter agony as the rocking of the boat was driving his motion sickness crazy. It was already nighttime when he awoke. He managed to pull himself to his feet and looked around to see where the others were. There was no lights lit on the boat and the sky was completely pitch black. "Huh, are we already at the island? Why didn't you guys wake me up?" When he got no answer, he forced himself to walk forward to the front of the ship to look off the end. It was hard to see anything in this darkness but he could make out the outline of land below him and some rather large spherical objects a short distance away. He could also hear the faint rustling of grass. "Hello?"

He widened his eyes as something from the darkness zoomed at him. Due to his motion sickness, he wasn't able to dodge and took the hit, flying back and crashing through the wall into the inner chambers of the ship. He still couldn't see what had hit him but he could hear whatever it was slithering its way onto the ship. He could also hear the sound of deep growling, giving Wake the reason to believe that this was a monster approaching him.

"Water Dragon-" He was cut off as his motion sickness acted up, making him throw up the water he had built up onto the floor of the ship, leaving him open for another strike from the unknown monster. Wake groaned in pain and sickness as he was through another wall and leaning off the back railing of the ship. He turned his head to look below, unable to see the ocean water but able to smell the salty spray and hears the waves hit the ship. "Let's hope this helps." He leapt over the railing to land in the ocean, turning around when he could hear the splash of the monster following behind him.

The monster's body began to glow in the pitch black waters to reveal a massive snake-like body but with many other features of other creatures amalgamated all over its body. It swam pretty fast as it rushed at the dragon slayer, only to be dodged as Wake was even faster in the water.

Wake opened his mouth and started absorbing water through his mouth, creating a whirlpool from the sheer quantity of water he was drinking. "Sorry, but I don't plan on losing in the water." He propelled himself at the monster as if he had leapt off a solid surface, a magic circle appearing in front of him as water spiraled around him like a drill. "Water Dragon's Spear Tusk!" He rammed into the beast and propelled both of them out of the water, landing on the surface. He then groaned as the creature's body started to dimmer down, his surrounding's becoming dark again.

Just as the beast was about to get up, a bright flash and the sound of a gunshot happened simultaneously, the creature collapsing on the ground limp and lifeless. A light emerged from behind the spherical objects that Wake was able to make out earlier, happening to be eggs. The light emanated from a lantern held by Gunny. "Ah, mister mage! You're okay!"

"Ah, you're the guy from the boat! What's going on? Where's the captain and Crysti? What was that thing that attacked me?" Wake would ask more questions if Gunny hadn't put the light right to his face and held a gun right at his forehead. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?"

Gunny sighed and pulled his items away from Wake's face. "Sorry, I just had to make sure it was you. It's not safe here, follow me." He turned around and started running. Wake was a bit confused but ran after Wake, being led inside a large cave opening. There were a couple boxed stacked up against the cave walls and a fire already lit up inside. "Make yourself at home. It's too dangerous to go out at night."

Wake grumbled as none of his questions were answered, but sat down on top of one of the boxes, staring at Gunny as the sailor sat next to the fire. "What the hell happened? How come the captain or Crysti aren't here? What the hell happened while I was out?"

Gunny groaned as he blew out the lantern and set it down, picking up a stick to shift around the firewood. "The captain's taking your friend to the thing responsible for this mess. Hopefully it'll leave the island alone once it has her."

Wake narrowed his eyes, already getting a bad feeling about those words. "What do you mean? I thought we were brought here to solve the problem of the starless skies. You're telling me you already knew?"

"We didn't just know, but the captain and I were the ones responsible. We dug up something we shouldn't have and that's what started this whole mess. The thing doing all this demanded someone powerful in celestial magic in exchange for the island's freedom." said Gunny, his face starting to sweat with guilt.

Wake leapt forward, grabbed Gunny by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "So you brought my friend here simply as a sacrifice to save the island from the problem that you started?!"

Gunny held up his hands as he tried to defend himself without fighting back. "Y-You gotta understand, we were only doing what we were asked to protect the people of this island. It said if we don't do everything it asks, it'll start killing the inhabitants one by one. We may have been pirates once but we weren't killers."

Wake growled, baring his sharp teeth as Gunny is on the verge of crying like a coward. He sighed and dropped Gunny and looks outside. "It's hard to believe that someone like you can call himself a pirate. Where is Horncrook taking Crysti to?"

Gunny panted for breath as he was let go. "T-To the spot where we dug up the thing. It's about an hour long trek from where we are now. The thing causing all this created a small temple that only shows up at night. You won't be able to reach her, not with all the monsters roaming about."

Wake drooped his head as he turned back around and sat back onto the crates. "Goddamnit, of course this had to happen the first time in ages that I go on a mission with just her." He slammed his fist against the wall in his anger. "Hang in there Crysti, I'll save you. I swear it."

* * *

Crysti looked in complete astonishment at the sight in front of her. In front of her and Horncrook was a palace that looked like the very night sky, lights like stars surrounding its entire surface. "This is amazing. One thing is capable of all of this?"

Horncrook hit Crysti on the back of the head with his lantern, a tired glare urging her to keep moving. "Don't stop, the sooner you get inside, the sooner your friend is free to leave."

Crysti glared at Horncrook in return and walked inside of the temple. She remember the events that transpired when they first arrived on the island. Both Horncrook and Gunny pointed guns at them, saying that if Crysti didn't do what they said then Wake would be killed. Seeing no other option, Crysti did as they demanded and got went with Horncrook while Gunny stayed behind to watch over Wake. Once inside the palace, the inside got a lot brighter down a narrow hallway.

"This is where you're on your own. Follow the path and you'll be in the main chamber. Just don't try anything unless you want Gunny to kill your friend." said Horncrook, turning around and shutting the doors behind him.

Crysti sighed and walked ahead, taking a look at the walls and trying to see if she could make out any of the alignments of the lights on the walls. _I knew I shouldn't have let Wake drink at the tavern. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have gotten stuck with motion sickness and could have put up a fight._

"I'm afraid you won't find any constellations among the walls. It's far too compressed and twisted."

Crysti whipped her head around to find a cloaked figure standing behind her, wearing a hood that covered all of their face in shadow, though judging by the voice, it was a woman. "Thanks for the update. You're the one that wanted me here I presume?"

"Very astute. Follow me to my chambers, you'll be much more comfortable." The hooded figure walked down the rest of the hallway and the doors to the main chamber opened up on their own as the woman approached.

Crysti followed behind into the main chambers and saw that it looked quite different inside. Rather than looking like the night sky like the rest of the temple, this room was made of some sort of green stone, carved text covering the walls in a language that she couldn't read. "I have a friend waiting for me so just cut to the chase. I heard there were hot springs on this island and I'm not missing such a golden opportunity.

The cloaked woman chuckled as she picked up and apple from a bowl on a display stand and put it under the hood to bite it. "Straight to the point, I like it. Before we get down to business, it would be rude of us not to exchange names. I'm Noroka, and you are?"

Crysti crossed her arms, not in the mood to waste time but didn't have know how to properly gauge the woman in front of her so she didn't want to pick a fight. "I'm Crysti, now quit stalling."

"There's no need to be rude. It's not like I'm gonna kill if you try something, what point would that bring?" said Noroka, dropping an apple core onto the ground as she was already finished with it. "I simply want you to do me the biggest of favors. After that, you're free to leave, the sky may return to normal and all the island's inhabitants will no longer be threatened by me or the beasties I mangled together~."

The mage narrowed her eyes as the woman confessed to not only being the one responsible for the sky's lack of light but the reason why all the monsters her and Horncrook encountered on the way here looked so messed up. "And what would this favor entail?"

Noroka grinned under her hood as she turned around to a small compartment in the wall that opens up, a dreadful energy emanating from the compartment the moment it opened up. "I want you to change the details in something with your magic. Something only you can do."

Crysti felt her whole body shiver as the energy coming from by Noroka filled her with a feeling of dread. Seeing that Noroka had her back turned, this was an ample opportunity. "Star Maiden's Dagger." she whispered. She opened her hand to create a magic circle which summoned a dagger made of pure light. She then chucked it at the back of Noroka's head.

Noroka turned her head to talk more clearly to Crysti with something in her hand by the time the dagger hit the side of her head. There was an explosion of light as the hood started to shred to pieces by the light. When the light faded, Crysti had already ran for the exit. The mage stopped dead in her tracks when she turned to look at the damage she'd done and was frozen by the sight. Noroka's skin was a greyish-blue color, long jet-black hair, a small crimson horn on the left side of her head and a massive crimson horn on the right side of her head that covered her right eyes socket. The was a glowing white spot on the large horn from where the knife had hit it. "You were trying to kill me just now, didn't you? You knew I was a demon, right?"

Crysti quivered as she resumed running for the entrance. She didn't know how strong this demon was but knew she wasn't gonna beat it herself, she had to find Wake and fast. Right as she was about to reach the exit to the temple, the doors started contorting and formed a solid wall. "What?!"

Noroka approached from behind with a calm walking pace, ripping off the cloak to reveal the rest of her figure. She was mostly humanoid in shape, though her left arm was a more bulky and had claws while her right arm was that of a humans, as well as only having one demonic wing on her right side. "You won't be able to leave unless I say so. This whole place is a result of my curse power."

Crysti grit her teeth as she turned around and held out her open palm at Noroka. "Star Maiden's Thread!" Strings of pure light emerged from Crysti's hand and wrapped around Noroka's arms, legs, wing and neck. "If I have to beat you to leave, I'll gladly do so."

Noroka grinned, showing fangs on the left side of her mouth with normal human teeth on the other side. "Your magic is quite powerful but it's no good for combat. If you wanted to face off against me, should have brought some celestial spirits." Her large horn started glow as the space around her body started to twist and turn, moving the strings off her body and wrapping them into a ball. "Are you going to continue to resist or actually listen to me."

Crysti breathed heavily as she was in disbelief of what she was watching, this demon having the power to distort space itself. She lowered her hand as she knew there wasn't any chance of fighting back against someone like this. "Fine, just don't harm anyone because of what I did."

"Oh come now, I may be a demon but I'm not heartless. You're far too important to me to upset and delay the work I'll be putting you to." Noroka showed Crysti what was emanating the dark energy earlier: a ancient looking book covered in dirt and sand.

Crysti took the book questioningly as examined it, looking at the cover and seeing 'Noroka' posted on the front of it. "What's this to be? An autobiography of your life?"

"I like your sense of humor. This is a book written by the dark wizard, Zeref. It contains all the details that pertain to my existence. Without it, I am nothing." said Noroka, taking the book back and opening it up. Once opened, the words lifted off the page and into the air, surrounding both of them. "I want you to change the details in this book."

Crysti was mesmerized from the amazing detail of the magic clearly put into this book. "Why would you want to change any of this? Didn't you say that everything written in it details what you are?"

Noroka nodded and shut the book, the words vanishing from the air. "Yes, glad you know how to pay attention. It may hold everything about me but that doesn't mean I'm happy with it. I was one of Zeref's first demons, merely practice to perfect the process to make his ideal demon. As you can see, he didn't get it right with me."

"So you want me to change the details to make you look more balanced out?" asked Crysti, picking up exactly where this conversation was going.

"Yes. Zeref entitled me to a cruel fate, casting me inside my book and burying me in the middle of nowhere rather than just destroying me." said Noroka, putting her book under her arm as her horn glew to form a chair from the floor, then sitting in it. "He has no interest in me and has likely forgotten about me by now, so I want to nothing to do with him."

"Alright, but why me? There are far more experienced mages in the world that you could have found, rather than just me." said Crysti, leaning against the wall as she started to relax, as this demon didn't have any interest in killing her.

Noroka smiled as she leaned back in the seat. "You aren't wrong, there are far more experienced mages out there that would better understand the details of my book. But you're far more qualified. You didn't try to destroy my book when I explained it, meaning your youth has made you curious. Also, now that I've know your magic, I know you're the best choice. Your ability to created the keys to summon celestial spirits means you're able to better change the details of the item that summoned me."

Crysti looked at the book then at the ground as she had to process all of this. "I'd love to help but I've never been able to make a proper celestial spirit key. I've only made low ranking silver keys that broke after a single use. But you've been pretty honest with me so I'll try my hardest to help you out. Though I didn't understand a single thing written in the book."

Noroka gave another toothy grin as she stood up and smiled. "Well, seeing that morning's upon us, I'll have to seal off the temple so nobody comes to attack us. You'll have all day to learn what I can teach you about it."

"Ah, but what about my friend? He's being held up on a ship by those two that brought us here. He has serious motion sickness and can't move around to defend himself." said Crysti.

Noroka simply started laughing and wrapped her normal arm around Crysti's shoulder. "There's no need to worry. Those two goons I got to bring you here may be rough but they aren't killers. That was their one plea when I threatened them to do what I demanded."

Crysti sighed in relief as Wake was gonna be okay. "Thank goodness. I don't know what would happen if anything happened to him."

Noroka raised her eyebrow in curiosity as she led Crysti back into the main chamber. "Interesting, you care much for this friend of yours. You should tell me about him in our spare time."

Crysti giggled, already feeling like Noroka was her friend. "Well let's hope I learn quickly because that's a lot to go into detail about."

* * *

Wake woke up in discomfort as he'd been sleeping on the crates during the night. He rolled off and landed on his feet, stretching to deal with the pain in his back. He heard the sound of a gun clicking and turned his head to see Horncrook pointing his gun at him. "Well good morning to you too."

"It's not gonna be a very good morning for you. You're going back to the mainland and on the boat." said Horncrook, aiming directly at Wake's head with the massive rifle. "You weren't even supposed to be here."

Wake smiled as he took a step toward the captain, resulting in the captain backing up a step. "Put that down Morgan, Gunny already told me you aren't killers. You wouldn't shoot me unless your life depended on it."

Horncrook glared at Gunny, who was cowering behind one of the crates. He groaned and tossed his gun away. "Fine, you called our bluff. But you are leaving the island. We can't have you messing things up for us."

Wake walked up to Horncrook and put his face close to the captain's. "Shame then, I ain't getting back on that boat without Crysti to comfort me. And seeing that I was unconscious during the boat ride, I don't have the option to swim back."

Horncrook growled and raised his metal arm up. "If you want comfort, I can arrange an unconscious nap for you!" He slammed his fist down, barely missing the dragon slayer that dodged out of the way. "If one life is necessary to save the lives of many, than isn't it the right thing to do to allow that sacrifice?!"

Wake leapt back to the entrance of the cave. "So if you had to, you'd sacrifice Gunny to save the others?" He saw the captain actually hesitate and look at his shipmate. "That's what I thought. I'll do whatever it takes to get her back, even if it means something happens to me."

Gunny's eyes widened as he was awe inspired by the words and determination of the dragon slayer. He ran out from behind the crate he was hiding behind and stood beside Wake. "I'm coming to. I'm tired of being pushed around. I was a pirate, not something for a demon to push around!"

"What the hell are you doing Gunny?! You can't seriously be telling me that you want to take on that demon again, do you? Wasn't my arm a good enough sacrifice to save both of us last time?" asked Horncrook, holding up his metal arm.

"But we didn't have a wizard on our side when we went up against it. This boy might be able to raise the odds in our favor." said Gunny, pulling out his gun and loading it with magic bullets.

"Whoa, whoa. Hold on and back up. What are you talking about? You're telling me that my friend is in the hands of a demon?" asked Wake, his hand twitching from the mental image.

"Oh, yeah. That's what's caused that pitch black night and demanded to bring your friend to them." said Gunny as he finished loading his gun.

Wake's muscles tightened as just the mention of demon was enough to make him act up, remembering words that Tsunari once told him. _Wake, promise me that you'll never trust a demon. It's not a good idea, regardless of circumstance. That damn fool of a dragon is sick in the head to believe that he can teach one._ "Alright, thanks for that update. You said you've fought it before, tell me what you know about it."

Horncrook groaned and picked up his gun, seeing no reason to not join in. "Well, since Gunny's going, I may as well go with you. I'll have nothing but a boat if he dies alone. The demon can warp space, making it just about untouchable."

Wake stared at the sky as he tried to think of a way to counter something like warping space. "Those bullets, they possess elemental magic, correct?"

"Yeah, my pistol has piercing elemental rounds while that captain has explosive elemental rounds. Wait, why do you ask?" said Gunny, wondering where the dragon slayer was going with this.

"Because I think I know a way to defeat that demon." said Wake with a deep grin, his hair starting to spike out. He quickly caught what his hair was doing and shook his head. "I've been too close to that fire. I need some water."

Horncrook strapped his rifle to his back as he walked up to Wake. "If you need water, the town has some freshwater that you can drink."

"I appreciate it, but I tested it last night. I can drink sea water just fine so I'll sustain myself with that till tonight." said Wake, about to head for the ocean before Gunny gripped onto Wake's shirt. "What is it, Gunny?"

"You're going to the town with us, whether you want to or not. They were the ones who properly hired you, didn't they? I thought you guilds were supposed to talk to your clients." said Gunny with a cheeky grin.

"He's right you know. And if you happen to get something for later use in town, that's just a bonus, isn't it?" said Horncrook, exiting the cave and heading in the direction of the town.

Wake watched as Gunny followed closely behind Horncrook and sighed. "Guess you guys know something I don't." He followed behind them, looking around to see various scratch marks along the cliff walls. "So what the heck happened here? That giant snake last night didn't exactly look natural."

"That would be the demon's doing. It used its space distortion to mess with the wildlife of the island and made them freaks of nature as an example to us on what might happen to the townsfolk." said Horncrook, his metal hand tightening a fist.

"But on the plus side, we learned that it takes longer for it to warp space in areas where living creatures are. Sadly, it was able to hold us off long enough to tear off the captain's arm." said Gunny, looking at Horncrook and sighing.

"Thanks for the warning, so that thing could end up beheading us if we stay still or move predictably. Good to know." said Wake, going back to imagining what the demon might be doing to Crysti.

The rest of the walk was dreadfully quiet. Wake spent his time during the quiet walk spewing a thin line of water from his mouth and wiggling it around as a weak means of training. Gunny watched in silence as he was curious in the magic of the teen. Horncrook just led the way without looking at the other two, peering about at dug up holes and burrows made by the twisted monsters as they prefer to hide in the morning. It was roughly 45 minutes before they finally reached the town, which looked a lot like a fort with large walls made of wood with every building built out of wood. The townsfolk looks over at the three of them enter, some of the children running up to them and surrounding Wake as they thought Wake's water trick was cool.

A woman carrying a basket of fruit approached Horncrook. "Nice of you to finally show up, Morgan. Did you bring the wizards?"

Horncrook groaned and put his metal hand to the back of his hand. "Look, things got pretty complicated. I brought one of them, the other is already investigating the problem. Can you wait until after we've talked to the mayor to harass me, Anna?"

Anna chuckled as she nudged her head in the direction of the carpenter's shop before walking off.

Wake had formed a large bubble of water above his head to entertain the children, all of them cheering and telling him to make it bigger and bigger. When Horncrook shouted out for him and Gunny to follow him, Wake let go of the water and let it splash down on himself and the children before running off to Horncrook.

The three of them walked inside the carpenter's shop, mostly empty other than a scrawny old man with a bald head and a lengthy beard, wearing a bright yellow robe. "It's good of you to show up Morgan, and you as well Gunny. I take it this is the wizard that we requested?"

"Yeah, this is one of them. He's technically the muscle while the wizard more qualified for this task is back on the ship waiting back on the ship." said Gunny, waving to the mayor of the chief.

The mayor stroked his beard as he stares at Wake, trying to measure up the dragon slayer. "It's very nice to meet you, wizard of Serpent's Iris. I am the mayor of this fine village of Duram, you may call me Daem."

Wake nodded in greeting as the mayor introduces himself. "Thank you for the warm welcome Daem. I'm Wake, representative of the Serpent's Iris guild. I promise, we'll have the problem fixed tonight, otherwise you can keep our pay."

Daem chuckled as he climbed on top of the reception desk and crossed his legs. "I appreciate the declaration, but we don't plan to take away what we offered. But if you're successful in taking care of it tonight, we'll add in a bonus of a free use of the hot springs."

Wake blinks and blushes for a moment as he was actually glad Crysti wasn't around to hear that, shaking his head to clear any specific thoughts on the matter. "I appreciate the offer. These men here will be assisting me tonight so would you be kind enough to offer that hot springs use to them too?"

"Oh? How considerate of you. Very well, I shall give Morgan and Gunny a free use of our hot springs as well should you succeed." said Daem, reaching to the edge of the desk to pull out a communication lacrima. "Susan, be prepared to make reservations for four tonight."

Wake chuckled and started walking out of the shop, Gunny and Horncrook close behind. The captain places his hand on Wake's shoulder. "So you mind telling us why you just did that? We put your friend at risk, why help us?"

"I gain nothing from holding a grudge against you. Besides, you're helping me fight a demon, you deserve something for risking your lives." said Wake, smiling as he walked back to the still gathered children to show off more tricks with water.

"I almost feel bad for getting him involved in all this, especially if something bad ends up happening to him or the girl." said Gunny, watching the dragon slayer playing around with the children.

Horncrook crossed his arms and frowns as he watched the wizard be so carefree. "Yeah, let's just hope he can take it down in one shot. Otherwise that demon's gonna end up killing all of us."

* * *

 **I apologize for the delay in this chapter for any of you who actually care for this story. Things were happening in real life so I didn't have enough time to work on it a lot. I finally got it finished and plan to get the next chapter out sooner. Not much else to say but to leave a review and end things here. Tune in next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

As the sun began to set, the sky began to warp and darken the further down the sun got. Wake, Horncrook and Gunny set out for the temple where the demon and Crysti were at. It would take them roughly half an hour to walk there, luckily Gunny brought a lantern. Wake had a very stern look on his face, ready for fight and not even accepting any alternative.

Horncrook watched Wake's expression as Gunny led them through the darkness. He walked up to the young wizard and pressed his normal hand on Wake's shoulder. "You should calm down. If you don't, the demon might smell your killing intent before we get anywhere near there." He then held up a sword with his metal arm, sheathed in a rather plain leather scabbard.

Wake looked at the sword and then at the ex-pirate. "What's that for? Trying to tell me you're extra prepared in case the demon gets too close for your gun?"

Horncrook grumbled and pushed the blade against the wizard, forcing him to hold it. "I'm not saying that at all. I don't mean to sound like I doubt your skill as a wizard, but it never hurts to have a weapon at the ready. It's nothing flashy, but it'll help."

Wake looks at the sword and pulls it out of the scabbard. True enough, it wasn't anything fancy, simple iron with no enchantments to it. It did look like the craftsmanship was pretty good though. He sheathed the blade and wrapped it around his back. "Thanks, I'll keep it under consideration. Though I'm not sure how much I'll need it, only person who's made me use up all my magic is my guild master."

"Guys, we're almost there." shouted Gunny, who was already at the top of a large hill, able to see the temple in the distance. As he turned around to face his captain and the wizard, something lunged at him, barely missing and broke the lantern instead, leaving them in the pitch-black darkness.

"Gunny!" shouted Horncrook before getting hit by a large figure and pinned down. He heard growling and heavy breathing on top of him. Whatever was on top of him was certainly planning to make him its next meal, so he swung his metal fist against its face, knocking it off.

Wake narrowed his eyes as he wasn't able to see in this pitch-black darkness. Thankfully, his other senses were more than capable of locating the things attacking them. He couldn't identify what they were due to them being warped amalgamations of beasts merged together. He could tell where they were though and how many there were. "Guys, there's twelve of them out here!" He heard a beast heading his way and quickly ducked under where it leapt at him. "Water Dragon's Spear Tusk!" He surrounds himself in water and thrusts his body upwards, launching whatever beast was after him into the air.

Horncrook grunted as another beast was currently trying to bite down on his metal arm, the beast too large to shake off. "I'm so tired of this damn darkness!" He reaches behind him with his free arm and bashes the beast in the face with his rifle. He turns a dial on the barrel, switching through his ammunition, locking in on the light element and aiming upwards, firing a shot. Out of his gun, a large ball of light flies into the sky and explodes, creating a lasting light to reveal the beasts around them. Half of them ran off in fright from the light while the rest stand their ground.

Gunny groaned as the light was quite bright to his eyes, stumbling backwards and tripping over a loose root. The fall saved him from a lashing attack from a serpent akin to the one he saved Wake from. Gunny freaked out and fired a fire element bullet at the serpent and pierced its flesh, causing it to writhe in pain and slither away. "Kid, don't do have a way to end this quickly?!"

Wake was busy holding back a bear that had antlers and several insect-like eyes on the left side of its face. "I do but it's not exactly something I can do all the time. If possible, I'd like to save it for the demon!" As the bear opened its mouth to attempt a bite on the dragon slayer, Wake took a deep breath. "Water Dragon's Roar!" He unleashed a torrent of water down the bear's throat, not stopping until the bear drops to the ground from drowning.

Horncrook aimed his rifle at a tiger with a gorilla limb for its front left leg and bird talons for its front right leg. He changed the dial to an electric round and fired at the beast, hitting it right in the eye. The beast doesn't die though and lunges at Horncrook, landing a solid slash with its talon arm before getting shot dead by a bullet sent from Gunny's direction. Horncrook dropped to his knee and pressed his human hand on the bleeding wound. "Damnit, I'm hit!"

The remaining beasts, who's base shape were that of another bear, a crocodile and a giant spider, all smelt Horncrook's exposed, fresh blood and all turned towards him. They rushed at him, their mouths agape as they were prepared to secure the kill.

Horncrook grunted and held up his metal arm an gun, too shaky to pull the trigger but is hoping he could at least hold off the beasts long enough to keep them from killing him. His eyes widened as Gunny suddenly jumped in front of his captain and prepared to use his own body to protect Horncrook. "Gunny, no!"

"Good job gathering their attention." Wake dive kicked the spider and launched it at the crocodile and the bear, causing them to crash against a tree into a pile. He pressed his hands together and formed a large magic circle that began to spin, faster and faster. As the light from Horncrook's shot earlier began to dimmer, the beasts found it more difficult to climb off of each other. "Water Dragon Pressure Blade!" He pointed his open palms forward fired a razor disk of water at the beasts, severing limbs off of them as it came into contact with them. As they cried out in pain, they began to run away from the dragon slayer.

Horncrook got to his feet and kept his hand pressed against his wound, his metal arm wrapped around Gunny who was struggling to hold up the weight of the massive prosthetic. "How come you didn't do that earlier? An attack like that seems a lot more useful than what you were using earlier."

"I can't do it so easy. That attack requires prep time, something you don't get a lot of when fighting monsters." Wake shook his hands after dispersing the magic circle. "Besides, playing with that kinda pressure isn't something I'm all that used to." He got between the ex-pirates and started making their way up the hill, using his sense to guide them and keep alert in case any of those beasts get the idea to come back.

Gunny chuckled as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small crystal that began to emit light. "So from what I gathered earlier, you have an attack even more powerful than that? Boy, wizards sure can be monsters, huh?" He lowered the crystal when the temple, which shown incredibly brightly, came into view as they reached the peak of the hill.

Wake chuckled. "I guess you could say that." He stared at the temple in disbelief, amazed by the mere sight of it. _Well, if they were going to take a celestial mage someplace, I guess that would do the trick._ He helped Horncrook along to the temple, letting Gunny lead the way again since he had a proper light source.

* * *

Noroka yawned in boredom as Crysti was jotting down notes from the book. The mage had learned quite quickly learned everything she needed to know for this task in the one day they were together, though she was so focused in her task that they hadn't had a single proper chat. She got up from her chair and walked over to Crysti, looking over her shoulder. "So, think you'll be able to get it done?"

"Yeah, I think I'll be able to get it done tonight if I stay concentrated enough. Though there's some details in this book regarding your appearance that don't match what you look like at all." Crysti pressed the pen to her head as she was entirely confused by these details.

Noroka went a bit wide-eyed and grabbed the book. "Don't worry about those details. Those are for something else entirely." She took a deep breath and handed the book back to the mage. "Just focus on the details that describe how I look now."

Crysti nodded as she crossed her legs and opened up the book again, the information lifting off the page once more as she began to look between the details and her notes. "At most, it should take me roughly 4 hours to do."

Noroka sighed as she sat back down on her seat and leaned back in boredom. She finally decided to ask the mage a question to relieve her boredom. "So, what's that friend of yours like?"

Crysti stiffened up a bit and blushed as she decided to close up both the book and her notes. "That's a very extensive conversation. It'll slow down my progress, but you're gonna have to ask specific questions if you want answers from me."

The demon gave a grin as she could already tell this girl had a whole spring of information on this person that they're just dying to let out. "Alright, what does he look like? Is he handsome at all?"

Crysti audibly gasped at the sudden question. "Of all things you could start with, it just had to be that. To answer your questions, he is quite charming. I have met men much more handsome than him, two of which are in my guild, but I suppose that seafoam green hair gives him an edge over the others."

Noroka's grin widened as she grew even more curious. This chatter among girls was something she was new to but was quite enjoyable for her. "Maybe after this is all over, you should introduce me to him, let me judge him myself. So what's this charming boy's name?"

Just as the wizard was about to answer, there was three loud thuds on the wall of the temple, quickly catching the attention of the demon. Noroka groaned as she walked out of the room to where the entrance of the temple was, warping the space to create the doors. She opened up the doors to find both Gunny and Horncrook standing there. "You're hurt, what happened?"

Horncrook looked down at his wounds and chuckled weakly. "We ran into your little guards on the way here. Don't suppose I could get that girl we gave you to heal me up?"

Noroka pressed her normal hand to her forehead and groaned. "Look, she's in the middle of something very important. Hold still." Her large horn started to glow as Horncrook found it hard to breath as Noroka was bending space around his body to mend the wounds shut. "There, now get out of here." She started to bend the doors to close off the doors.

Gunny held his hand through the bending space to stop the demon from closing off the entrance, much to Noroka's annoyance. "Sorry, we just wanted to know if you were thirsty for some water."

Noroka raised her eyebrow as she was confused why these humans that she'd threatened countless times were suddenly interested in her hydration. Her confusion was immediately answered when she heard someone shouting quite a distance away and the ex-pirates stepped apart from each other, seeing a large disk of water shooting at her at incredible speeds. Her horn started to glow again as she tried to stop the disk by distorting space, but instead ducked as she realized she wouldn't stop it successfully, seeing it enter the temple and slice through her distorted space temple. "What the hell?!"

Wake growled in the distance as the demon that he couldn't see clearly due to the brightness of the temple dodged his attack. "Alright, back to Plan A then. Water Dragon's Spear Tusk!" He launched himself at the demon like a missile while surrounded entirely in water. He could hear a rather unpleasant sound originating from the demon, likely to be the sound of the demon distorting space. Though it wasn't the sound that bothered him, but the sight of the demon when he could see it clearly made him miss his target and crash into the wall inside the temple.

"What the hell are you doing?! You had a clear shot!" shouted Gunny, the only angry one as both Horncrook and Noroka were both in complete shock at the failed attempt of an attack.

Wake got back to his feet, his face visibly red as he looked at the ex-pirates, trying to avoid looking at Noroka. "Why the hell didn't you tell me the demon was a girl! That's pretty crucial information, don't you think?!"

Gunny looked like he was gonna explode in anger as he couldn't believe their entire plan was in jeopardy over one small detail. "Are you serious?! Who cares if the demon's a girl, it's a demon nonetheless!"

As the argument went back and forth, Crysti ran out when she heard all the commotion. "Noroka, what's going.. Wake?!" She shouted when she realized her friend was the reason for all the noise.

Wake turned his head to look at Crysti and went wide-eyed, tearing up a little as he was quite happy to see one of his best friends completely fine. "Crysti, you're okay!"

Noroka gasped as she realized this boy that had the gall to attack her and immediately show mercy to her just because she was made female. "So this is your friend huh?" She looked the male wizard up and down and smirked. "I can see why you like him. Though I can't let him get in the way." Her horn began to glow yet again as the temple floor rose up and surrounded Wake, trapping him.

Crysti went stiff as she saw the demon completely trap her best friend in the temple space. "Noroka, what are you doing?! Let him go!"

Noroka sighed as she walked over to the star maiden, completely ignoring the other two men. "Relax, he can still breath. He's just trapped in my space until your task is done. After that, you two are free to go."

Crysti looked at the thin tube of warped space surrounding Wake then nodded, turning back to return to her work. Noroka was about to join her when she heard the sounds of a gun clicking. The demon decided to trap Crysti in the main room while she turned to face the ex-pirates.

Both Horncrook and Gunny had their guns facing the demon, no traces of fear in their eyes. "We aren't just gonna back down now. Whatever plan you're making that girl do for you, we aren't gonna allow it to happen." said Horncrook, changing the dial to a flame round.

Noroka groaned as these men were only making things complicated for her. "Well, I didn't promise anything to her to keep you two alive. Besides, since you guys already got me what I needed, I have no interest for you anymore." Her horn started glowing but immediately stopped as she could hear the mage trapped in her space start to shout.

"Water Dragon Roar!" The space started to expand very quickly as water started to build up and press against the wall of the distorted space, soon breaking free and flying at the demon. By the time it reached her, it had used up most of its force to break through the space, though Wake was already flying towards the demon, his eyes closed so he didn't have to look at her. "Water Dragon's Flood Talon!" He surrounded his foot in water, leapt into the air and swung his foot down on her in an axe kick.

Noroka went wide-eyed as the dragon slayer came flying at her, having to block his kick with her horn, managing to throw him away but still stumbled back. Her stare at Wake went from shock to malice. "You're a dragon slayer? Crysti should have mentioned that earlier, I could have prevented her heartbreak."

"What the hell are you spouting? What does his magic have to do with the girl?" asked Horncrook, his gun still fixed on the demon, albeit shakily as the malice Noroka was showing was enough to make him shake.

Noroka sealed off the exit of the temple without taking her eyes off of Wake. "At the time of my creation, Zeref still had a bit of resentment for dragons. That resentment was pooled into my creation, so I completely loathe dragons, as well as dragon slayers by extension." She charged at Wake with her large fist clenched, throwing a punch at the dragon slayer.

Wake could hear the demon approached and held his arms up, blocking the hit but still getting launched backwards. He crashed into the wall and opened his eyes, glaring at the demon. "Well, guess the feeling's mutual. Tsunari taught me never to trust a demon, and she never gave me a reason not to doubt her. Water Dragon's Spear Tusk!" He launched himself at Noroka again like earlier, though didn't plan on missing this time. He could see and hear her preparing to use her spacial distortion so he redirected himself upwards and released himself from his magic. "Water Dragon Roar!" He shot out a torrent of water at the demon, not worrying about if it hits or if she blocks it with her space.

The demon indeed blocked it, an umbrella made from the temple walls. She extended it upwards and made reshaped it into a spike to hit the dragon slayer while he was midair, only to be stopped when she was shock by two flaming bullets from behind. She turned to look at the ex-pirates and glared at them, swiping her arm at them to create a multitude of spikes from the ground to hit them.

"Oh this ain't good!" Horncrook quickly changed the dial on his gun to a wind element and grabbed onto Gunny. He pointed his gun at the floor and fired, unleashed a powerful gust of wind that launched both of them into the air, narrowly avoiding the spikes. Gunny then responded by firing an ice element bullet at Noroka's leg, the ice starting to spread around her leg and make it difficult to move.

Before Noroka could use break the ice with her curse, she was bombarded with yet another torrent of water from above, looking up to see Wake holding onto the spike to stay in the air. "Your attacks are good but it takes a lot more than this to kill me!" She warped that walls to create two massive hands and reached out to grab onto Gunny and Horncrook while she bent the spike that Wake was holding onto to wrap it around his chest and slowly tighten its grip.

Wake cried out in pain as he could feel it pressing against his ribcage, also finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. He spat out a line of his dragon water directly at Noroka, who simply tilted her head to dodge it.

Noroka chuckled as she looked at the thin line of water shoot past her head. "Was that honestly supposed to do something to me? Now hold still so I can snap your neck." Just as her horn started to glow, her feet started feeling a bit cold. She looked down to see the line that had missed her was sucking up all the water that had been scattered from Wake's previous attacks and rising it into a bubble around her. "What, are you trying to drown me?"

Wake chuckled even while his ribs were being crushed by the warped space. "No, but it does serve as a good conductor. Now!"

Noroka went wide-eyed as she turned around to see both of the ex-pirates had their guns aimed directly at her. Before she could activate her curse, both of them had fired off electric element rounds right at her, sparking up a current of electricity around the bubble, electrocuting the demon. She screamed loudly in agonizing pain while the entire temple started to ripple from the damage being dealt to the demon. When the electricity ran on, she stood absolutely still, her eyes completely blank.

The space holding Wake and the others loosened and let them go. Wake took the opportunity to breath and clutch his chest in an attempt to comfort his pain while Horncrook and Gunny ran over to the wizard. "I can't believe that plan of yours worked, though looks like she got ya pretty good. You gonna be okay kid?"

Wake nodded as he steadied himself onto his feet. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Crysti's healed much worse injuries than this. Let's go get her." He started walking over to the wall where Crysti went in when he heard the sound of groaning behind him.

Noroka twitched and breathed heavily. She drops to her knees and presses her arm to her chest. "Y-You bastards! You nearly killed me there!" She grit her teeth and moved her other arm to grab onto her larger horn.

Horncrook growled and aimed his gun at the demon. "You sound disappointed. Allow us to fix our mistake." Right before he could pull the trigger, the barrel of his gun suddenly gets separated and sent flying. "W-What the?!"

Noroka got back onto her feet and glared at the three men before her. "You've really made me cross the line. I don't possess the title of Cursed Horn Noroka for no reason. And I won't be underestimating you humans a second time." She pulled on her horn, her horn lifting off her head with the attached skin stretching as it tries to hold it there. The moment the skin ripped off, Noroka became surrounded in a dark aura that enveloped her whole body, giving off an intense pressure.

Wake widened his eyes as he could feel the strength emanating off of the demon only continue to rise. "Both of you, run! You need to get away from here right away!" He heard the same sound of Noroka using her horn to distort space and immediately leapt for the ex-pirates, holding his arms out to block them. Almost instantaneously, a large gash appeared in his chest, forcing him to cough up blood and drop to the ground.

While the ex-pirates were looking in total shock and terror at the wound that showed up on the dragon slayer, Noroka began laughing. "To think he'd go down in just one hit. Perhaps my Etherious form was overkill. No matter, while I have it active, may as well kill the others."

* * *

 **And just like that, cliffhanger. Honestly, I was planning to extend this chapter a lot more but didn't realize how much space I was using until I'd gotten to this point, so I'll save the rest of what I had planned and put it into the next chapter to end this little arc. I'm honestly unsure how well this story is doing in terms of people actually liking it so a review to give me feedback would really be appreciated. I'll try to make this story's release dates more consistent with every 2 weeks, but won't make any promises. Tune in next time for the conclusion of this arc.**


	6. Chapter 6

As Horncrook looked down at the dragon slayer laying in a pool of water, blood starting to spread from the body, he looked up at the demon, who was still enveloped in a dark aura. "Gunny, I need you to get the girl and run."

Gunny went wide-eyed and looked at his captain. "What are you talking about? You're telling me to abandon you?! I'm not gonna let you get yourself killed!"

Horncrook grit his teeth and turned to face his shipmate, tears running down his eyes. "Just go! I'll hold off the demon as long as I can! Don't make me say it again, otherwise I'll treat it as mutiny!"

Gunny gasped as he saw his captain shedding tears. He lowered his head and nodded. "Yes captain." He then started running down the hallway where he saw Crysti get trapped. When he reached the wall that kept him away from the wizard, he pulled out his gun and started shooting rounds into the wall.

Noroka looked at the human start shooting at her distorted space and groaned in disgust. "You humans are utterly pathetic. Do you really think I'll just stand still and let you do as you please?" She raised the arm holding her horn, beginning to distort space. Right as she was about to lower her arm, what felt like cannon fire hit in the side, disorienting her as she turned to look at Horncrook, who's metal hand had come off to show a cannon.

"I've wanted revenge ever since you took my arm from me. So I spent every last bit of jewel we made over the years into having this thing crafted." said Horncrook, opening a hatch, dropping one of his magic ammunition into it, and firing it with even greater force than his rifle ever could.

Noroka growled as she was blasted with an explosion of wind that cut her skin. The wind knocked away the aura enveloping her, revealing her new form. It was similar to her normal form only it was fully balanced in her monstrous proportions, two demonic wings, both her arms bulky with claws as well as a mouth full of fangs that would make even a shark envious. Her smaller horn had completely vanished while there was a crimson light emanating from the eye socket that her larger horn had previously covered up. "Cute little toy you got there. Shame I'll just break it just as much as I did your arm!" She swung her horn at him like a sword, her horn glowing as a cut appeared on the metal arm, which surprised the demon as that was a pretty weak result compared to what she was expecting.

Horncrook chuckled as he loaded in yet another round. "Shocked are ya? I went to the best experts on you demons as well as those experienced with spacial magic. With the knowledge they gave me, I managed to craft the weapon that will be your demise. Now die!" He fired yet another round at the demon, this time an ice round that completely covered Noroka in ice.

Noroka growled as she shattered her way out of the ice with little effort, flapping her wings to get the remaining ice off of her. "If that's how it is, I'll just have to end you immediately!" She swung her horn at him, Horncrook's metal arm receiving another cut while Horncrook's body stayed undamaged. Noroka glared at the human and grit her fangs in anger. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Horncrook didn't hesitate to load another round at the demon, creating a burst of flame around her. "Like I said, I went to the best experts on spacial magic. Your long range attacks are useless on me!"

While the fight was dragging on, Gunny had successfully broke his way through the distorted wall, crashing onto the floor in front of Crysti.

"You! What are you doing in here? What's all the noise going on out there?!" asked Crysti, who'd been having trouble working with all the screaming and explosions going on in the other room.

Gunny grabbed onto the wizard's wrist and pulled her to her feet. "We have to get you out of here right now. Your friend.. He took a heavy hit from the demon. I'm not sure he's even still alive."

Crysti went pale from hearing that sentence. She looked out the hole that Gunny had made and her blood went cold as she could see Wake lying face first in a pool of water that had become completely red with blood. "No, no I refuse to believe he's dead!"

Gunny grabbed Crysti by the shoulders and shook her. "Listen to me! We're no match for the demon, the captain is sacrificing himself to give us a chance to escape. We have to get to the villagers and get them out of here. If we leave now, we might make it!"

Crysti stood in silence as she was still refusing to believe everything she was being told. She threw Gunny's hands off her shoulders and picked up the book, stepping out the hole into the room and stepped into view. "Noroka!"

Noroka turned her head to look at Crysti and her eye widened as she saw the celestial mage holding a dagger made of light directly at her book. "Crysti, what are you doing? Do you understand what you're suggesting by holding that thing up to the book?"

"I know full well what it means." Crysti stabs the knife against the cover of the book, leaving a small hole in it, a similar hole appearing on Noroka's chest. "I destroy this book, you get destroyed too. I didn't want to do this, but you left me no choice when you harmed someone I cared about."

Noroka growled as her life was being threatened by the mage. "If you want to threaten me, then you better be willing to back yourself up." She flew over to Wake's unmoving body and slammed her foot against the back of his head, getting a loud gasp from Crysti. "I've felt your magic, I know its power. I'll be able to kill your little dragon boyfriend here before you can kill me. So drop the book and he lives." She warped space to create a hand from the wall of the temple.

Crysti trembled as she was being bargained with, panting as she couldn't resist the deal, dropping the book onto the hand as she ran over to Wake.

"Pathetic, just like the rest." Noroka enveloped the book into the walls and shifted it around to make it impossible to find. She then raised her horn and swung it at Crysti with even more force than she's been using on Horncrook. The force created an explosion that enveloped where the celestial wizard stood.

Gunny stared in horror as smoke covered the area where the girl stood was enveloped in smoke. "No! Demon bastard!" As he aimed his gun to where he remembered seeing the demon, he lost his breath as the smoke began to dissipate.

Crysti had braced for the impact, fearing the worst for what would happen to her. It didn't take her long to realize she was fine. She gasped as she saw a vaguely familiar figure standing before her. "Wait, aren't you.."

The figure turned to look at Crysti, a stern look on his scarred face as he turned to face the demon. "You should help your friend, I shall hunt this demon." He pulled several knives out of the shredded vest this being wore, tossing them at Noroka with great speed.

Noroka growled and swung her horn at the knives, severing the knives midair. "And yet another one shows up to piss me-" She was cut off as the stranger had already sprung at her, a spear being thrust at her. She raised her horn to block the spear and slammed her free hand on the staff of the spear to break it in two.

The man immediately dropped the broken staff and reached behind him, pulling out a sword and swung it at Noroka, who once again blocked it with her horn. "It has been eons since I hunted a demon. You're much stronger than the ones I hunted in the past."

Noroka narrowed her eyes as she examined the figure up close, holding back his sword with slight difficulty. "You, you're not human are you? You're something different."

"You'd be correct." He slid his sword sideways to get it away from the horn and swung his sword sideways, creating a cut on Noroka's chest. "I am a celestial spirit. Orion the hunter. And you are my current prey."

Noroka stepped back and pressed her hand over her cut, using her horn to warp her skin shut again. "A celestial spirit? I don't remember her having a key. "Doesn't matter, taking care of someone like you is a simple matter." She swung her horn once more and shattered Orion's sword. "After all, what is a hunter without a weapon?"

Orion stared at the hilt of his now broken blade and tossed it aside, reaching behind him with both hands and pulled out two javelins. He enveloped them in light and tossed them at Noroka's flying faster than Noroka's eyes can track as they pierced through her legs and stabbed into the ground, fixing her in place. "I am never without a weapon."

Noroka growled as she slammed her horn against the spears, shattering them into dust. She then flew into the air and growled at the celestial spirit. "You're all insignificant wretches! I am a demon, created by Zeref himself!" Just as she was about to slash at the hunter, she was hit in the face with another shot from Horncrook, a blinding light enveloping her head as she found it impossible to see.

Gunny took aim at Noroka and fired his only grappling round at the horn, a claw connected to a chain of light grabbing onto the horn and pulling it back to the ex-pirate. He then gave Crysti a little push. "You need to go save your friend. We can handle her." He then chucked the horn into the room where Crysti had been trapped earlier.

Crysti nodded and ran over to Wake, pulling him up to see if he was breathing. She had tears running down her eyes as she saw the gash in his chest, placing her hand to it and creating a magic circle as she starts using as much of her magic as she can to heal him quickly.

As Orion was about to toss another javelin, he felt himself start to shimmer. He turned his head to look at Crysti healing Wake and sighed. "I won't last much longer if she's healing him." His eyes then went to attention to the sword on Wake's back, grinning as he ran over to the wizards and pulled the sword off Wake's back. "My apologies, but I'll be borrowing this." He closed his eyes as the light from his belt started to transfer into the sword, the blade increasing in length. "A weapon from this realm is more powerful than something I can create." He leapt up from the ground and swung the sword down on the demon.

Noroka had just regained her eyesight right as the celestial spirit had leapt into the air, her eye widening as she tried to dodge, the blade severing her right wing from her body, resulting in the demon crashing into the ground.

Orion watched as the sword shattered after the attack. He looked at his hand as he felt himself being dragged back to the celestial spirit world. He picked up the severed wing and turned to look at Crysti. "Apologies that I couldn't be of more use. I shall take this wing with me as a trophy. I leave the rest in your hands." He then completely vanished, along with the wing and all the broken weapons he brought with him.  
Noroka grunted as she got back to her feet, staring at both Gunny and Horncrook aiming their guns at her while Crysti was still healing Wake. She remembered her horn had been taken and had no idea where it was. "I guess I have no other choice but to finish things with my final curse." She used her remaining wing to blow the bloody water off her body. The crimson light floated out of her eye socket and took the form of a magic circle. "Curse of End Space!"

The magic circle grew even brighter and larger as the temple started turning from the starry night to pitch black, slowly disintegrating starting from the ceiling, causing everyone to panic. "What is this?! What is this power?!"

Noroka chuckled as she dropped to one knee. "It's my last resort, possibly something Zeref would hope could be used to end his life. All things affected by my space will shatter and be erased from existence as it's sent to a realm of space where nothing can exist, as well as those inside it."

"But that includes yourself! I thought the whole purpose of bringing me here was to fix your existence without having to die!" shouted Crysti, no longer healing Wake as his wounds were no longer there.

Noroka chuckled as she got back to her feet. "I know, but you all are just gonna kill me anyway. Might as well take you with me. The only way to stop it is to kill me, and none of you have the strength to do it."

Horncrook growled as he ran up to Noroka, slamming his cannon arm against her face to knock her back onto the ground, pinning her down and aiming his cannon right to her chest. "Maybe not, but my trump card just might." As he said that, the cannon bit of his arm dropped off to reveal several elemental lacrima surrounded a brightly glowing crystal. "If I can't kill you with my cannon, I'll just have to blow us both to hell!"

Both Crysti and Gunny went wide-eyed as she saw that the captain was about to blow himself up to kill Noroka, Gunny especially going pale as he knew of the captain's failsafe but had never prepared for the day when he'd actually use it. "Captain, you can't!"

"He's right. If that thing goes off, you're gonna get us all killed anyway."

Everyone turned their head to the origin of the voice, being Wake who'd finally regained consciousness.

The dragon slayer got to his feet and clutched his chest as it still hurt like hell. "That thing's filled with all kinds of elemental magic, including electricity. If you set that off, it's gonna conduct on the water and fry all of us."

Noroka took this opportunity to punch Horncrook off and get back at her feet, staring at the dragon slayer with a satisfied smile. "Well well, look who woke up. I was worried I wouldn't have the satisfaction of seeing you scream as you're erased from this world."

Wake narrowed his eyes and grinned as he took a deep breath. "The satisfaction is going to me as you're the one who's going to die. It was a pretty scary method of doing so, but all the steps for me to finish you off have been fulfilled." He nudges his head to make the demon look at the ground.

Noroka tilted her head and looked at the ground, the floor of the whole room had been filled with water that had become tainted with blood, almost to their ankles. "It's pretty interesting how you could bleed that much and still be alive."

Wake chuckled. "What can I say, I'm a bit too stubborn. Guess it helps that I have the best healer I could ask for. And now that my blood's everywhere, I can finish you!" He crossed his arms as the bloody water around the room started shifting about and collecting around Noroka. "Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Bloody Hurricane!"

Noroka went wide-eyed as the water rose in a pillar around her, moving incredibly rapidly, the thickness of the blood in it making it easier for the speed and pressure of it to start cutting and crushing her body, screaming loudly as she she couldn't pull herself out of it, her eye turning to Crysti with a look of fear in it as her body was damaged beyond repair as the attack finished, collapsing to the ground as her body started to disintegrate, the destruction of the temple stopping abruptly and in the nick of time as it was nearly to Horncrook's head.

Gunny completely fainted as this whole situation was far too stressful for someone like him. Horncrook fell on his back and started breathing heavily since he could finally feel calm after everything that he'd been through regarding the demon. Crysti smiled as she looked at Wake, who had fallen unconscious on his feet. She turned to look at Noroka's body as it continued to fade. "I'm sorry Noroka. I really wish it didn't have to be this way."

As she said that, the temple started to fade away as the sky started to turn bright again, the starry night returning to its natural position as the moonlight lit the previously dark island. "I completely lost track of what phase of the moon it currently is. The full moon certainly looks beautiful tonight."

Crysti looked up at the sky and smiled. "It sure is." She turned her head to see Noroka's book lying in the sand, completely cut up just like Noroka was in her final moments. She moved over to it and grabbed onto it, stuffing it in her bag before Horncrook could see.

Horncrook grumbled as he got back to his feet, looking around for the other pieces of his metal arm to cover up the built in bomb. Once his hand piece was back on top, he wiggled the metal fingers and turned to Gunny. "We should get them back to town. You two were offered a reward after all."

Crysti nodded as she propped Wake onto her back and started carrying him back to the main town when following Horncrook, who carried Gunny. She struggled with carrying Wake, not exactly physically fit enough to comfortably support the weight of the dragon slayer. "So, were you actually planning on blowing yourself up?"

Horncrook briefly turned his eyes to look at Crysti, then turning them back forward, making sure to keep them on the path to town. "I was. Honestly, I figured it might be best for Gunny. After all, it's my fault he got wrapped into this kind of life."

Crysti raised an eyebrow, letting out a loud yelp as she nearly tripped over a rock, struggling to keep herself balanced. "W-What do you mean by that?"

He looked at Gunny, who rested on his shoulder. "While I was still a pirate, I had my crew shoot down a passing ferry, hoping to get some precious jewels from it. The only thing that ended up on our ship was a dying woman and her baby. Feeling responsible, I took the child in as my own. When I officially retired, I had hoped he'd go and live his own life. Unfortunately, he chose to stick by me no matter where I go or what I do."

Crysti turned to look at Wake and sighed. "I guess in a way, I understand what you're talking about." After a long while of silence, the two of them finally reached the village. Crysti went to talk to the village chief to claim their reward and was quite surprised to learn about the deal that Wake had made without her. She felt absolutely giddy to learn that they get paid with both jewel and a free hot spring trip. When she remembered Horncrook's talk about Gunny, she took a deep breath and felt a little space from Wake might to some good. When she arrived at the small home that Horncrook had let the wizards stay at, she found Wake currently drinking a bucket of water while Gunny was cheering him on.

Wake exhaled as he finished the bucket, slamming it down as he turned to look at Crysti. "Ah, Crysti. Do you have a moment? There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

Crysti blushed a bit as she nodded, following Wake out the back door into the backyard, which was pretty lit up yet barren. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Wake sighed and scratched the back of his head as he was having difficulties trying to word this. "Look, we've known each other for several years and I've made many attempts to avoid you because of my nervousness."

Crysti blushed even more as she could actually feel her heartbeat begin to quicken. _W-What kind of cruel joke is this? I decide I'm gonna give him space and he chooses now to confess?! No, no. I'm getting ahead of myself. There's now way that's where he's going with this._ "Yeah, I probably didn't make it any easier what all that flirting in recent years."

Wake grumbled as was remembering every time that she'd done that. He grumbled even more as he could hear and smell both Horncrook and Gunny sitting right on the other side of the door, listening in on their conversation. _Damnit Wake, just spit it out and get it over with. You're a dragon slayer who just killed a demon, this shouldn't be the toughest thing you've ever done._ Y-Yeah, well I suppose the thought of you in danger at the hands of that demon made me realize how much you mean to me. And now that we're completely past that, I guess I have just one thing to ask."

Crysti felt that her heart was about to explode as this conversation was moving rapidly in the direction she was thinking. _Wake, please don't say what I think you're about to say! My heart won't be able to handle it!_ "A-And what is it that you would like to ask me?"

Wake reached into the empty scabbard that still rested on his back and pulled out a frozen rose made of his dragon water. "Crysti Syrin, would you do me the honors of being my girlfriend?"

With a very loud scream, an explosion of light erupted around Crysti, the white strands of her hair lighting up as magic circles started appearing around her rapidly, each creating a solid shape that magnetically attached to each other, soon taking the form of a celestial spirit key before the light finally died down and Crysti collapsed, Wake catching her in time with the rose still in hand. Crysti opened her eyes and looked in her hand, seeing a silver key in hand, causing her to gasp in surprise. "I-I actually made a key!"

Wake chuckled as he helped Crysti back to her feet. "Certainly wasn't the reaction I was expecting out of you, but this is an amazing development. So which celestial spirit is it."

Crysti glared at Wake and pouted. "Already changing the subject before I can even answer. That is so typical of you." As she saw the awkward and nervous look on Wake's face, she chuckled and wrapped her arms around him. "The answer is certain a yes~."

Wake blushed quite a bit and smiled. "T-That makes me happy. Now can we see what key it is?"

Crysti rolled her eyes and smiled as she let go of him to look at the key, biting her cheek in disappointment as she looked at it. "It's Canis Minor. It's not a very strong celestial spirit."

"Canis Minor?" asked Gunny, who came out from hiding, walking over to the wizards with Horncrook close behind. He looks at the key closely and looks at the sky. "In some legends, they say that Canis Minor represents a small dog that followed Orion. Perhaps it means something that you were given a key for the being."

"Either way, I could point you towards a small magic shop in Hargeon that'd be willing to buy that key from you." said Horncrook, sitting down on a barrel next to the wizards. "That is if you wish to sell it." thi

Crysti looked at the key and smiled. "I'm sure it's some kind of sign that I was given this key, but something tells me that someone else might have more use for this key than I do."

"Well considering I'd like to go home tomorrow, how about we cash in on that free hot springs visit?" said Wake, stretching his arms above his head, grunting as his chest still ached from the gash he took." A soak in hot water will do me some good after what I had to deal with."

"Yeah, I think we've all earned it at this point. Fighting a demon is definitely exhausting work." said Horncrook, detaching the metal arm from his body, revealing a stub for an arm with plenty of scars on it. "It's best not to take that in the water."

Crysti stared at the men who helped fight Noroka and whispered something into Wake's ear, the dragon slayer nodding to what she said. "Could you two come closer for a sec?"

Both Gunny and Horncrook looked at each other and walked over to the wizards, only for Wake to grab them by the sides of their heads and be slammed together, causing the men to scream in pain and fall to the ground. "What the hell was that for?!" shouted Horncrook, holding his hand to his head now that it hurt.

Wake and Crysti chuckled and smiled at the ex-pirates. "Consider that your punishment for putting us in that situation to begin with. We wouldn't have gone through all that if you hadn't turned it all into a hostage situation." said Wake, who was already heading through the fence gate to enter the main town. Crysti nodded at the men on the ground and followed close behind Wake.

Gunny couldn't help but laugh as he got to his feet and helped Horncrook back to his feet. "Yeah, we probably could have avoided all that if we were honest with them. We deserved worse than that so let's just leave it."

Horncrook sighed and pressed his hand to his hip. "Yeah, though we still owe them a lot more." As he stepped out of his backyard, he looked down the edge of the island and saw his boat off in the distance. "I'm sure those wizards will need rides to other places every so often, and they could probably use some resources for their guild. You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Gunny looked up at the captain and his eyes glimmered with excitement. "I think I do. Look's like we work for the Serpent's Iris guild now."

* * *

 **And I'm calling it officially done with this arc. When I initially wrote up the idea for the missing stars plot, I had no idea where I'd be going with it all but I am definitely happy with the results, regardless of the fact that this story isn't all that popular. I haven't anything planned for future chapters so I would love suggestions, might incorporate them for later arcs of this story.**


	7. Chapter 7

After a very refreshing trip to some hot springs and a long rest, Wake and Crysti returned back to the mainland with the assistance of Horncrook and Gunny. Wake lay in discomfort the entire time as Crysti wasn't in the best of conditions to use her magic to ease the dragon slayer, only offering him rest on her lap. While Horncrook made sure the ship was in the best conditions to lead them back to the port town of Hargeon, Gunny explained to them their plan to work for Serpent's Iris guild. Crysti thought it would be a great idea while Wake was unable to give a proper response, just barely giving a thumbs up in his sickly state. Once the ship was perfectly set on its way to Hargeon, Horncrook wrote up a map of the town and pointed to where the only magic shop in town was. Crysti read it over and nodded to the captain, everyone going to do their own thing afterwards.

Once the ship finally reached Hargeon, Crysti dragged her new boyfriend off the boat and waved to the men as they made their way through town. The fresh scent of the ocean helped Wake recover from his motion sickness faster, enjoying the sights as he now had the luxury to actually see the port town rather than rush through the mission, the late morning sun shining down on them. "How much you wanna bet most of the restaurants around here primarily serve fish?"

Crysti rolled her eyes and smiles. "Doesn't sound like a fair bet. You could smell whatever a restaurant's cooking and know what it is." She wraps her arms around his and drags him to the closest restaurant. "How about next time, you just say you want something to eat rather than making some cheap excuse."

Wake blushes a bit as Crysti just grabbed onto his arm, hoping that he can get used to this quickly if he intends to keep her happy. "Geez, way to ruin my chance to be sly and take you on our first date."

Crysti stared at him in silence before slapping herself on the forehead. _Of course that's what I was going for. I'm so used to trying to take the lead that I'm probably ruining any chance for him to attempt being romantic._ "Sorry, I put too much thought into it. To say I'm sorry, my treat." Before Wake had any chance to argue with her, she dragged him into the restaurant and ordered a table for two.

Wake sat down in a booth across from Crysti, scratching his scalp as he tried to think of a way to take control of this situation. _Damnit Wake, you finally had the guts to accept her as your girlfriend and she's already taking the reins. Think, what's the best way to regain control?_ As the waitress gave them their menus, he looked through it and got an idea worthy of him giving a toothy grin.

Crysti raised an eyebrow as she can faintly hear the sound of chuckling coming from behind Wake's menu. After scouting through the menu and memorizing the prices for everything, she set her menu down as she started to wait for the waitress to return.

Minutes later, the waitress came over to the two mages and smiled. "Have you decided on what you'd like?"

Both the mages looked at each other, reading each others' eyes to gain confirmation if the other had made their decision. After a few seconds of awkward staring, they nodded and turned their heads to the waitress. "Yes, I'd like the grilled salmon with a side of shrimp please, as well as a glass of tea for me." answered Crysti, turning to see what Wake might be ordering.

Wake grinned as he slammed the menu down dramatically and looked at the waitress intensely. "I think I'll take the seafood supreme buffet." As he said that, the entire restaurant turned their heads to look at the dragon slayer, as if he had said some forbidden word. As Wake looked around, seeing that everyone was staring at him, he could feel himself start to sweat as he figures he might have done something stupid. "Is something wrong with that?"

The waitress chuckled in amusement as she simply took the menus from the young couple. "Not at all, you probably didn't see the sign out front. The manager of this place recently posted a challenge for anyone who orders that. If you manage to eat the entire thing within an hour, not only will your name be posted on the wall for all to see, you'll also receive a prize from the manager himself. However, people have more often than not ended up vomiting before getting even halfway done."

Crysti watched as her boyfriend turned to her, likely wanting her opinion on the matter. She couldn't help but chuckle and smile. "I don't see any problem with it. After all, you have the biggest appetite of someone I've ever met, I'm sure if anyone can do it, you can."

Wake grumbled a bit, hoping she would help him out of this situation as he didn't want to become such a target of attention. _All I wanted was to buy the most expensive thing on the menu to scare Crysti into letting me pay._ He took a deep breath and looked at the waitress. "Alright, I'll take on this challenge, though I'll need a couple glasses of water."

After roughly ten minutes, the waitress returned with Crysti's dish, a freshly grilled salmon sauteed with butter with several shrimp surrounding it on the plate in a fancy flower-like pattern with a variety of sauces for her to dip her shrimp in. Wake was forced to wait a whole half hour before his order finally reached him. There was an assortment of different fishes on plates surrounding a a whole cooked octopus. Despite his original feelings on not wanting to do the challenge, his mouth began to literally water as he stared at such a vast amount of different fish, his enhanced sense of smell making it impossible to resist his primal urge to eat, grabbing one of the fish and biting down on it, bones and all.

Crysti could see from the expression on the people who couldn't resist watching her boyfriend take on the challenge that they were initially bothered by his barbaric eating habits. That changed within twenty minutes as they were more that he could still eat with zero hesitation as nearly all of fish had already been devoured entirely, barely any bits left of them. _It's been a long time since I last saw him like this. Maybe I should improve on my cooking so I can make him this happy myself._

Another twenty minutes went by. Wake had completely finished the fish and had eaten 7 of the octopus' tentacles as well as drank 5 whole cups of water to wash it all down. He groaned as he couldn't manage to take another bite. He had another twenty minutes left to finish so he figured he'd be able to do it, he just needed a little time to concentrate before finishing. It became increasingly difficult as he could hear multiple screams coming from outside, entirely women's screams. He knew he didn't need to get involved as he could discern that they were screams of excitement, but his enhanced sense of hearing made it incredibly frustrating. "Crysti, could you please go see what's going on out there?"

Crysti nodded, the screams also bothering her as well. She got up from her booth and slipped the waitress the cost of their meals as she stepped outside to see what the commotion was. She noticed several women surrounding a singular man outside the restaurant. The man was rather tall and slim, sporting blue hair and a dark blue cape. She couldn't understand why so many women would faun over someone like him. Even as the man looked her way and gave what she surmised was supposed to be a charming smile, she didn't feel anything at all.

Seeing that the young lady before him wasn't reacting like the other women, he walked over to her. "Well aren't you a pretty little number. Quite a unique hairstyle, tell me, do you dye such lovely hair or do you naturally have such white strands of hair?" He reached out to brush his hand through Crysti's hair.

Crysti glared at this complete stranger and grabbed hold of his wrist. "Look, my boyfriend's trying to finish his meal and your obnoxious fans' screaming is making it hard to enjoy it. So just take them somewhere else."

The man pulled his arm back and stared at the young beauty before him. _Boyfriend, huh? We'll see how long she clings that word._ "I'm afraid I have no reason to leave. After all, I am the great salamander of the Fairy Tail guild."

Crysti crossed her arms as she was quickly losing her patience with this guy. "Is that supposed to impress me? Sure the Fairy Tail guild is pretty famous, but us serpents don't feel anything towards the fairies. Just take your fan girls and move elsewhere." As she turned around to go back into the restaurant, the destroyed book of Noroka fell out of her bag. _Oh no!_ She knelt down to grab it and tried to put it back into her bag.

'Salamander' grinned as he watch the woman kneel down to go grab a book. _This is my chance. You won't be able to break free from my charm and sleep magic with your back turned._ He reached his arm out, aiming to place it on the back of Crysti's head. His arm was stopped as he felt a rather painful group grab his forearm. "Ow, hey! What do you think you're doing?!" He turned to see a very angry guy who looked around the girl's age.

"So pal, what do you think you were doing with my girlfriend, huh?" asked Wake, doubly pissed off that his meal was interrupted by this guy, but he was also trying to lay his hands on Crysti.

'Salamander' tugged his arm away from the angry mage, taking a notice to the unknown guild emblem on the side of the apparent boyfriend's neck. T _hey're wizards? She's not worth it then, especially not with this many people around._ "Sorry, your girlfriend dropped something and I thought I'd help her out."

"She's plenty capable of handling herself. Now, mind taking your little fan club out of here before I do something to scare them off?" Wake narrowed his eyes, surrounding his fists in water to show that he's serious.

The man claiming to be from Fairy Tail groaned as he turned around. "Alright, geez. You're not even worth the time and effort anyway." As he walked off, the excessive number of girls fawning over him began to follow him.

Wake sighed as he was a little disappointed. _Man,_ _I was actually hoping for a good fight. Might have helped clear some room in my stomach. Well, priorities first._ He turned around and knelt down to Crysti, noticing her slip something into her bag but wasn't interested enough to ask about it. "Hey, you okay?"

Crysti turned her head to look at Wake and nodded, standing up while locking her bag shut. "Yeah, but what about you? Aren't you disqualified for stepping outside the restaurant?"

Wake smiled as he wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder. "Come on, you know I would go through the depths and back for you, girlfriend or not. Besides, it was just a stupid challenge, nothing I had too much interest in."

As Crysti couldn't help but blush from how smooth Wake had just been, they both heard a voice behind them. "Is that so? And here I thought you were doing a marvelous job." They both turned around to see a rather short man, likely four feet in height, dressed in a fancy business suit with a golden fishhook pinned on his chest. "I apologize for interrupting your romantic moment, but I was about to see if you were still interested in continuing the challenge you were so very close to completing.

Both the mages looked at each other in confusion. "But the rules on the sign clearly state-"

The man pulled out a pocket watch and opened it up. "You've still got fifteen minutes left. You could get finish it if you hurry up." He turned around and started walking inside the restaurant.

The mages once more looked at each other and smiled, figuring they weren't gonna pass up on this opportunity and ran back inside. As Wake made himself suffer in trying to finish the octopus, Crysti began chanting in support for him, the entire restaurant joining in. As the final minute started counting down, people were starting to place bets on him as he had only a portion of the head left. He took slow, very large bites, his face turning sickly the more he ate. Within the last ten seconds, he shoved the rest of it into his mouth, filled his mouth with his dragon water and started forcing it down as he chewed it. When an alarm went off, the manager himself stepped up and checked Wake's mouth. When he saw nothing inside, he raised his hands to indicate success, causing the whole restaurant to erupt in cheer.

The manager had the waitress who was serving the mages drag Wake to the back to give him something to ease his stomach. He then turned to Crysti. "I hate to do this to you, but as he is the winner, I must converse with him alone. I promise you he will return to you in one piece. Just meet him down at the train station, he'll be there."

Crysti wanted to argue but she only sighed, watching Wake get dragged into a back room. "Very well, I need to stop by the magic shop anyway." As she turned around and started making her way for the door, she came to a realization and started turning back around. "Wait, how did you know we would be going to the-" She stopped talking as she could see the manager was no longer in sight. Confused, she went out the door and started heading for the magic shop.

Wake chugged down a bucket of water that he was offered by the waitress as he waited for the manager to enter. Whatever medicine he was giving had completely settled his stomach despite the large quantities of food he ate. He watched the door into the room open as the manager stepped in. The short man motioned his hand for the waitress to leave, who closed the door behind her as she did. "Alright, is there a reason my girlfriend couldn't be present for this?"

The manager climbed atop a large box so he could sit evenly with Wake. "Well, she wasn't the one doing the challenge, was she? Besides, I know you were the primary reason why my hometown was saved last night."

Wake stared in confusion for a moment before piecing it together. "So you're from the island that was in trouble huh? Listen, we already got paid for the job and we got a free trip to the hot springs, I won't accept any more favors for the job, such as you allowing me to complete the challenge even after stepping outside."

The short yet stylish man simply laughed. "Dear me, you misunderstand. That wasn't a favor for helping my island, you were merely outside my restaurant, which classifies as still on my property. Besides, you went outside to help your girlfriend. What kind of man would I be to not reward such honorable acts?"

Wake narrowed his eyes as he got the feeling this man was making this up as he went, but didn't push it since it would likely just lead to more lying. "Alright, I guess I'll thank you for that then. So, for what particular reason was I dragged back here?"

The man slips the golden fishhook off his suit and holds it up. "It would be dangerous for people to know what the special prize is, wouldn't it?"

Wake looked completely confused, and honestly disappointed, that it looked like all he'd won was the manager's golden fishhook. "Look, it's a nice fishhook, but I prefer to fish with my bare hands. It's how I was taught after all."

"Oh no no, this isn't simply a fishhook. I simply had an illusion seal placed on it so nobody would try to take it from me." He closed his hand around the hook, opening it immediately after to reveal not the fishhook, but a small key made of carved stone. "It's an old artifact that I found in my old days as a simple fisherman. This magical relic can open any lock up to three times a day."

Wake wearily took the key from the manager and examined it. He could indeed sense some some magic in it, though it wasn't a very large amount, likely drained from age. "This is incredible. I'm not sure where I could make good use of this, but I'll gladly accept it." He stood up and gave a polite bow to the man before him.

"Now, before I send you to off to go catch a train with your girlfriend, the last thing I'll need from you is your name." He pulled out a pen and pocketbook from his back pocket. "After all, people should know who made it possible to complete my challenge."

"The name's Wake."

The manager wrote it down, finding it a little humorous considering what he heard of the boy's magic. "And your last name?"

Wake choked a bit as he was asked that. He'd never had an actual last name, nor has he ever needed a reason for one. He scratched the back of his head as he tried to quickly think one up on the spot. "Tsunari. Wake Tsunari."

"Geez, with a name like that, it's no wonder you're a water mage." said the manager as he finished writing the boy's name. "Alright, that's all I needed. You're free to leave."

Wake nodded as he stepped out of the room while stuffing the key into his pocket. On his way out of the restaurant, he could hear a mix of people cheering for him and people whispering about him. He could even hear someone utter the word 'leviathan' while describing the way he ate the the fish. He smiled as he actually liked the sound of that. He stepped out the front door and started heading for the train station, not knowing where the magic shop was to go meet Crysti.

Meanwhile, Crysti had just left the magic store with a wad of cash in hand. She'd made a nice deal with the small man for a price of 15,000 jewel for the celestial spirit key. She was roughly halfway to the train station when she accidentally bumped into someone. Both her and the person she bumped into fell onto the ground. "Ow. Sorry, are you okay?"

As she looked up to see who she bumped into, seeing a rather pretty blonde girl somewhere around her age. "Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

As both girls realized they both blamed themselves for what happened, they both laughed a little as they helped each other back to their feet. Crysti looked down, seeing a pouch on the girl's hip, seeing what looks like a silver key in a small opening. "Oh, you're a wizard?"

The blonde girl nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I'm currently just travelling around since I'm not in a guild yet, though I do have a guild I so desperately wish I could be a part of." She almost looked like she wanted to go into a full blown conversation about the guild she wanted into. She brings herself into a calm demeanor and holds her hand out. "I'm Lucy, nice to meet you."

Crysti smiled and shook Lucy's hand. "I'm Crysti, a wizard like you. Though the difference between us is that I'm already part of a guild." She knelt down and rolled up her pant leg past her knee to reveal her guild mark. "Proud member of the Serpent's Iris guild."

Lucy tilted her head back as she tried to think if she's ever heard of that guild before. "Serpent's Iris? Weird, I've never heard about it in Sorcerer's Weekly."

"We're a very small guild and haven't exactly made ourselves that well known." said Crysti as she rolled her pant leg back down and stood back up. "Though I can say that we've got some really tough wizards that would be tough to beat in a fight. If you don't have any luck getting into that guild you want, I recommend you come check us out."

Lucy smiled and her eyes glimmered a little. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. By the way, do you know where I can find a magic shop around here?"

Crysti pulled out the map that Horncrook had made for her and handed it to Lucy. She waved goodbye to her new friend and started walking off to the train station, hoping she wasn't too late for the train or kept Wake waiting too long. _I probably should have asked to have a look at those keys. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get another opportunity someday._

Around that same time, Wake was waiting around at the train station, sitting on a bench while shaking. Just being around the trains was bothering his stomach. He turned his head to notice that a there was a small blue cat trying to pull a boy with pink hair roughly his age off the train. He walked over to see what the issue was. "Hey, buddy. Is everything okay?"

The cat turned its head to look at the stranger. "Oh yeah, he's fine. He just gets motion sick real easy."

Wake nearly jumped in shock as he was taken aback that this cat was talking to him. _That's certainly not something you see everyday._ He returned his focus to the guy on the ground, smiling as he grabbed onto the guy's scarf to tug him off the train. "I know the feeling all too well."

As the guy was pulled of the train, he grabbed onto Wake's wrist and tugged it off the scarf. "Thanks pal, I thought I was a goner there." As he stretched his arms above his head, he took notice of Wake's guild mark on the side of his neck. "Oh hey, you're a wizard! What guild you from?"

Wake pressed his hand against his guild mark and smirked. "You can tell just from this huh? Yeah, I'm a wizard. Proud member of the Serpent's Iris guild at that. Name's Wake."

The cat put its paw to its chin as it tried to think if it ever heard of that guild. "Serpent's Iris. Serpent. Sea serpent. Sea. Fish. Hey Natsu, let's go get some yummy fish."

The person known as Natsu turned to look at his cat friend. "Sure thing Happy, though let's check out the lead we got first." He returned his gaze to Wake and grinned. "Next time we meet, let's have a little sparring match." He held out his fist.

Wake grinned as well as he bumped fists with this pink-haired stranger. "You got it. If you ever get impatient for that match, just search for the Serpent's Iris guild, it shouldn't be super difficult to find."

Natsu nodded as he and the cat named Happy started walking away, leaving Wake once again to sit alone in the train station. Luckily, that didn't last long as Crysti showed up just a few minutes after, dragging their stuff along. "Sorry, I didn't make you wait too long, did I?"

Wake shook his head, immediately lying to her so she wouldn't feel guilty. "Nah, I got her a couple minutes ago. They kept me at the restaurant for a while. I met someone rather interesting though."

Crysti raised an eyebrow as she lifted up her suitcase. "Did you now? I met someone interesting as well. We'll just have to talk about who we met. Well, after the train ride of course."

The train ride went about as anyone would expect, Wake's motion sickness started acting up so he ended up being put to sleep in Crysti's lap, the latter using her magic to ease his motion for the duration of the ride. Oddly enough, she found the task to be less exhausting than it had been the other day. Once the train ride was over, the walk back to the guild was very uneventful, mostly just talk between the two mages. As the approached the front door of the guild, Wake suddenly stopped.

Crysti noticed her guild mate's abrupt stop, turning around to face him. "Something the matter? I've never seen you hesitate to enter the guild hall. You usually push the doors open and shout 'I'm home!' with great enthusiasm."

Wake groaned as he scratched his hand through his slick hair. "On most occasions, yes. But those cases don't involve me putting an end to a situation that's been going on for years. How do you think Xander and Trevor are gonna respond when I tell them I finally asked you to be my girlfriend? They'll never let me hear the end of it."

Crysti couldn't believe that was what was bothering him. He killed a demon and had the guts to finally ask her out, yet how his friends will respond to the news is what bother him most? She couldn't stop herself from laughing at the situation. "Look, if it bothers you that much, we can tell them later. I'd say we both deserve a break."

Wake nodded as he took a deep breath. He then ran up to the giant doors and kicked them open. "I'm home!" Unlike last time, everyone came out of their rooms and came to greet the returning duo.

Trevor was covered in sweat, likely working out prior to his friends returning. Xander was carrying a book in his hands, the book being about underwater environments. Grelmor had been asleep and was moving slowly as he came out of his cabin to greet his students. "How did it go out there?"

Crysti looked at Wake for a moment before walking up to the master, pulling out the research notes that Grelmor had given her and returning them to the old man. "It went better than expected. Nobody died and I managed to make my first key. I sold it off though since something told me that someone else ought to have it."

Xander whistled as he set the book into his travel bag. "Our little maiden has finally grown up. If you can make one key, it's merely a matter of increasing your magic power to make more. At least that's what master Grelmor's research says."

Trevor pulls Wake aside, out of earshot of the others. "So, how was it being on a mission with just Crysti? I imagine it was utter hell, right?"

Wake was visibly steaming in his embarrassment. "Well, hell would be a good way to describe the mission, though not for the reason you're thinking."

As Trevor tried to gain details on Wake's adventure, Xander walked over to see what the other boys are up to while Grelmor guided Crysti into the cabin. Crysti looked up and noticed the large bones were nowhere to be found. "Where's that old family relic of yours?"

Grelmor collapsed into an old wooden chair and grumbled. "Underground, along with the arms. Listen, since your magic power has increased, evident that you managed to make a key, I need you to do me a favor. I'll return the favor when I can."

Crysti felt a little sweat forming on her forehead as she was beginning to get nervous. Never had master Grelmor asked her for a favor, even for something little. "W-What is it?"

Grelmor pulled up the side of his shirt, immediately causing Crysti to panic and look away. As she turned back, her eyes turned wide as she could see a frightening side. Grelmor's skinny side was exposed, though there was a large gaping hole in it as if it had deteriorated, filled in with his soul magic. "I need you to use your magic to fix me."

* * *

 **Whoo, done with this one. I actually had a little bit of fun with this one, I initially planned to make this just a short, boring filler chapter but I actually enjoyed making this one. Hope it was as fun a read as it was for me making it. I would have uploaded this yesterday, but the website was freaking out yesterday, so I added a little bit more details. Nothing more to report, feel free to leave a review, would highly appreciate it.**


	8. Chapter 8

Crysti stared at the frightening sight of master Grelmor's deteriorated side. "H-How are you still alive with a wound that big?"

Grelmor sighed as he lowered his shirt. "I figured you'd asked questions before anything. My magic comes at a cost for using, and it becomes greater the older I get. You musn't worry though, it's easy to heal and this is the result of not getting healed for over a month. It's just too much to bare at this point." He groaned as he pressed his hand to the deteriorated side, casting a magic circle.

Crysti backed up a bit and started biting her knuckles as she had to take a moment to think. "So this is why you're always isolating yourself and refusing to let us touch you. If you'd just told me, I could have healed you the whole time."

Grelmor tried to laugh but he just started coughing in pain. "I know more details on your magic than you do. Growing up, you would never have been able to heal this level of damage. Sealing the wound shut, perhaps, but certainly not recreate the destroyed tissue."

"So why are you asking me now?" asked Crysti as she knelt, holding her hands out as she started casting her healing magic on Grelmor's side. "Why go through an entire month of this pain growing if you have a method to keep it in check yourself?"

The old man's breathing started to ease as Crysti's magic was actually working and restoring his side. "I have a very limited supply of the material required to heal myself. And it becomes increasingly difficult to get more of it." Under his breath, he mumbled. "If this keeps up much longer, I may have to perform the ritual."

Crysti perked her eyes up as she could her the master mumbling. "Did you say something?" She soon stopped her magic as there was nothing more she could do once the gaping hole had been filled with her magic, acting as a slow catalyst for the flesh to regenerate on its own.

Grelmor lifted his shirt again to see the hole no longer filled with the dread-filled green magic of his, but instead of the holy white magic of the young girl's. "No, nothing at all. I appreciate what you've done. If you ever need anything from me, be sure to let me know. As for me, I should rest."

"Don't overdo yourself." Crysti then headed out the door. She was greeted by the sound of Trevor shouting something.

"You did what?!" Trevor had the most dumbstruck look on his face as he looked at Wake, Xander having a very similar expression. "No no, there's no way you're telling the truth." He turned to see Crysti stepping out of the master's cabin, walking over to his childhood friend. "Crysti, tell me the truth. There's no way our girl-shy Wake confessed to you on that last mission."

Crysti looked genuinely shocked as she looked to Wake, noticing the look of embarrassment on his face and knew that her boyfriend definitely told the others. She turned her focus back to Trevor and smirked. "He sure did. Right after saving me from a terrible demon. It was more romantic than I ever could have hoped for."

Trevor's jaw looked like it would have dropped to the ground if it wasn't attached, utterly speechless as Crysti confirmed what Wake had told him. Xander simply whistled as he stuffed his left hand in his pocket and used his right hand to slap Wake on the back. "I knew ya had it in ya. It was simply a matter of time."

Wake stumbled as he took the slap from Xander, completely surprised how much force was in that slap. "Gah, geez. Do you think you could slap me a little softer next time? That actually hurt." He pressed his hands to his stomach as all the seafood from before felt like it was about to be puked up. "I-If anyone needs me, I'll be in my room." He started dragging his bag to the corner of the guild that his room resides.

"Hey, Wake! When you're feeling better, wanna go on a mission to a beach to take care of a sea monster? And if not, how about tomorrow?" asked Trevor, holding up the request for the mission in question.

Wake didn't even turn to look at the request as he shook his head. "No thanks, I think I've had enough of the ocean for a while." He continued into his room and shut the door behind him, the faint sounds of throwing up being heard from behind the door.

Trevor grumbled as he lowered the request. _Damn, Wake was the perfect partner for this one too. Can't ask Xander, he never goes on missions with other people except Master Grelmor. Guess that leaves.._ He turns his head to Crysti, who had a very unhappy look on her face.

"Trever Q. Magnus. Did you just turn to me to ask me to go on your job because you had nobody else to go with?" She crossed her eyes and narrowed her eyes as she saw him begin to sweat, meaning she was right. "Even if I was your first choice, I wouldn't go anyway. I think I'd just like some time to myself for a while." She picked up her stuff and headed for her corner of the guild, shutting herself in her room.

Xander sighed with a smile on his face, sliding his other hand into his pocket. "Ah love. They're at a bit of a rough start but I can clearly see it's there." He saw Trevor looking frustrated that he had nobody to go with, so he nudged the earth wizard with his elbow. "Don't look so down, there's somebody who'll go with you. Assuming something didn't happen recently."

Trevor groaned uncomfortably as he started walking to his room. "Yeah yeah, things are fine. I just hoped the next time wouldn't be about a job." He walked into his room and put slid a sleeveless top on, heading for the main doors to the guild and used his magic to create explosions that propel the doors to slam shut behind him.

Xander chuckled to himself in amusement as he was left alone in the middle of the guild. "All three of them seem to struggle when it comes to their emotions. Sadly I don't have an environment to train them in that." He made his way to his room and closed the door behind him.

Trevor spent his entire walk to the town practicing his magic by creating several explosions in the dirt, picking up whatever rocks he can find and stuff them into his bag, which was enchanted with spacial magic to give it a lot more room on the inside than the outside. Once he made his way into town, he strolled through the back alleys to get to his destination the quickest while avoiding attention. He stopped outside a large stone and wood building with a large bulging red heart build into the door. He knocked on the heart five times, first on the bottom, then at the top of the left curve, then the center between the curves, the top of the right curve and then the bottom again. Doing so made the heart lose its red color, being a sign for Trevor to walk inside.

Inside the building was a cafe of sorts, the entire staff being beautiful women of different shapes, sizes and age in maid outfits. All the other customers inside looked head over heals for all of the girls, regardless how differently proportioned the girls were. A maid with short green hair and a very frilly dress walked up to Trevor. "Welcome back, master. How can I be of service?"

Trevor gave a short smile as he slipped out a 1000 Jewel and handed it to the maid. "I'll just take the usual."

The maid nodded and guided Trevor to a corner booth away from all the other customers. She then walked away into the back, leaving Trevor by himself. Another maid approached the wizard while carrying a tray of chocolates. This maid had long silver hair tied up in twin tails, as well as a old fashioned maid dress that showed very little of her legs compared to the other maids. "Hello master, are you hoping to take it easy today?"

Trevor looked up at the maid, wrapping his arms behind his head as he leaned back. "Nah, I'm hoping to get a little hard work done." He grabbed one of the chocolates and bit down on it, the sweet taking a lot of pressure to bite down on.

The maid rolled her eyes as she took a seat next to Trevor. "Still making that joke are you? I hope you break your teeth on my chocolates."

Trevor snickers as he swallows the second half of the chocolate. "Sorry Aeris, but you know I'm never going to stop making it. And you don't really want me to break my teeth. After all, I'm better company than these guys." He nudges at his head towards a group of two guys and one girl fawning over the maid at their table.

Aeris sighed and smiled weakly, mostly because he wasn't wrong. "Yeah, people not under the effects of charm magic are much better company. I'd complain, but they constantly come back and leave good tips." She crossed her arms on the table. "Alright, so what do you need my help with this time?"

Trevor reached into his bag and pulled out the request. "I need your help in taking down a sea serpent that's taken refuge at a popular beach. Other wizards have failed to take it down so the reward is quite high."

"A sea serpent huh? Isn't that kind of sacrilege to your guild?" Aeris couldn't help but giggle at her joke. She grabbed the request and slid it over to herself to read the details. "If it's a sea serpent, wouldn't Wake be a better fit for this job?"

"Believe me, I tried." said Trevor, holding back a laugh from Aeris' clever joke. He took a deep breath as he put on a more serious expression. "Unfortunately he just got back from a mission with Crysti, and considering he confessed to her, I don't think they'll want to be apart all that much."

Any smile that was on Aeris' face before had completely vanished as all that was left on her face was the look of absolute astonishment. "Whoa whoa whoa, back up! Wake confessed to Crysti?! Are you sure you don't have it backwards?!"

Trevor looked around as the maids started to whisper amongst themselves. He knew that the status between Wake and Crysti was a popular topic between these girls, but he was hoping to keep it quiet for the time being. "Could you keep your voice down? I was hoping to keep it a secret until I made sure myself that they were legit."

Aeris covered her mouth as she realized what she'd done and slammed her forehead against the table. "I'm sorry, I was just too surprised to contain myself. I just can't believe Wake was the one to confess. Looks like everybody owes Jess money now."

"And I'll be sure to pass the message onto her about that."

Aeris and Trevor turned their heads to see a mature woman likely in her late 30's stand in front of the booth, dressed like a butler rather than a maid. "Oh, Madam Clara, I didn't notice you there." said Aeris as she stood up and bowed politely to the older woman.

"It's quite alright Aeris." She motioned her hand downward, Aeris sitting down on command. She turned her head to look at Trevor. "So you're back to hire Aeris huh? Quite the popular customer you are. Well, you know the rules."

"Yeah yeah, the cafe gets 25% of the reward while I negotiate just how much to give the person I hire." Trevor said as emotionless as possible, as if reading directly off a script.

"And no inappropriate touching of the girls while out on the job." Madam Clara breathed in what looked like a cigarette, but was just a twig on fire while she bellowed the smoke using magic. "She may be your girlfriend but while on a job, she's your hire. You two can do whatever you want on your own time." She then started walking away, ordering the other girls to stop staring and get back to work.

Aerls chuckled and turned back to Trevor and slid the request back to him. "Yeah, I'll help you out with this. We can meet up at the train station tomorrow around nine in the morning." She slid out of the booth and started walking away.

"Hold on, don't you want to negotiate your wage?" asked Trevor, picking up another chocolate.

Aeris turned her head around and smiled at him. "Same wage as always, 50/50." She waved her hand to him and walked into the back.

Trevor sighed. _Good, seems she isn't mad about last time._ He took a bite out of the chocolate, his teeth sinking through it easily. He looked at the chocolate and his face went a bit pale. _Nope, she's still upset._

After spending another five minutes in the cafe, he placed a tip on the table and walked out of the cafe, avoiding a fight between the maids about who'd get the tip. Upon making his way back to the guild, there was nobody outside the guild or within the main building. _We really need to get more people, this place is always so quiet._ He headed into his room and started sorting through a large collection of different types of rocks and natural metals, deciding which ones would be best to bring on the mission.

The next morning, Trevor woke up around six in the morning and climbed out of bed, stepping out of his room and looking around to see if anyone else was up. To his surprise, Xander was already awake, practicing his magic by trying to create two different environments at once. While the mage was certainly able to do it, the process took much longer than it would to just make them back to back. "Hey Xander, still working on that double terrain?"

Xander look at Trevor and stopped casting his magic, the terrain he created beginning to revert to their original state. "Well well well, aren't you up early. What's the occasion, got a date with miss Aeris?"

Trevor rolled his eyes, having learned early on to ignore Xander's teasing. "It's not a date. To me, a date would be dinner on a cliff with a great view of the starry sky. Fighting a monster isn't exactly my idea of romantic."

"Well there are few things that bring people closer together than treating each others' wounds." Xander said, leaning against the giant skeletal arm holding up the roof. "Just be sure not to make the same mistake as last time and-"

"Yeah yeah, I got it!" shouted Trevor, not wanting to be reminded of what he did last time. "Look, do you mind getting me that lacrima I asked you to make last time?"

Xander takes a moment to recall if Trevor had made such a request, snapping his fingers as he heads into his room. He walks out with a lacrima glowing a bright brown color. "One earth elemental lacrima, prime and ready for use."

Trevor takes the lacrima and stuffs it inside his bag. "Thanks, I suppose I'll be heading out now."

"You sure you wanna go out there like that? I know you have a very desirable frame, but perhaps you should put on a shirt." said Xander, a very cheeky smile on his face.

Trevor looked down, seeing that he was shirtless. He groaned as he walked past Xander as he headed for his room. "You could have told me sooner." He pulled out a red short-sleeved shirt and put it on.

"I know, but it should be your responsibility to take notice of those kinds of things." said Xander, raising both his arms to attempt the double terrain cast again.

"Then why do you bother reminding me before I head out?" Trevor didn't even wait to get an answer to that as he headed out the front doors, shutting them the same way he did yesterday.

Xander sighed as he started casting his magic. "Because someone needs to watch out for you three." As he put all his attention to his task, a swampland and a lava pit started forming on each side of him. _It's only a matter of time, before I can cast all 7 of those terrains at once._

Trevor's walk to town was entirely uneventful, he didn't even practice his magic on the way there. He spent an hour waiting at the train station before falling asleep. He woke up to the sound of a familiar voice yelling at him. "Trevor! Wake up, the train's about to leave!"

Trevor jolted up as his brain quickly identified the information he was given. He looked around and saw the train on the verge of leaving. "Awe crap!" He noticed it was Aeris who'd told him the train was leaving and grabbed her arm, running as fast as he could, the two of them barely making it in time.

Aeris wound her arm up as it was suddenly sore from Trevor pulling on it. "Well don't you know how to treat a lady. Of course that would be evident after.. Let's just find a place to sit." She made her way through the crowd until she found an empty seat.

Trevor scratched the back of his head as Aeris made no attempt to hide her dissatisfaction. He made his way over to Aeris, careful not to step on someone's stuff, and sat across from her. "Don't you think we should talk about it?"

"Other than the details of the mission, there's nothing to talk about." Aeris crossed her arms as she seemed adamant to make sure what happened last time didn't come up in conversation. "So, what's so special about this serpent? Why is the reward so unusually high for a monster killing?"

As a worker on the train came by selling food and drinks for the passengers, Trevor bought a metal cup of water and a couple pancakes. "According to the reports, the serpent is unkillable. Wizards have been able to deal a lot of damage to it, but whenever it dives its head into the water, it comes back up moments later with all of its injuries healed. Several wizards have sustained serious injuries from fighting this thing and a few have even died to it."

Aeris crossed her legs as she processed the information. Now that Trevor had a chance to relax, he could see that Aeris is wearing a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a bright yellow long-sleeve top. "Going into the water instantaneously heals it huh? Since it's a giant monster, freezing the water likely wouldn't stop it since it would heal any injuries from slamming its head into the ice."

Trevor nodded as he took a few bites from his pancakes, he was completely starving since he hadn't eaten anything yet. "Yeah, that's a likely scenario, so our only chance is to hit it as hard as we can without giving it a chance to regenerate. Are you sure you don't want to talk about last time?" He picked up his cup of water and was about to take a drink when the water froze in place and became immovable. It wasn't turned into ice, more like it was solidified while keeping its watery texture. "Aeris, come on.."

"Don't you 'Aeris, come on' me." She had her finger pointed at the glass of water, making it a likely assumption that her magic was the cause of the water's odd behavior. "There's nothing to talk about. I didn't report you to Madam Clara and I haven't done anything to you, so just drop it."

Trevor stared at the ground and set his metal down. "Sorry anyway. It was a complete accident."

Aeris grumbled as he continued to apologize anyway. "It's fine, let's just think of a way to beat that serpent."

The rest of the train ride was nothing but awkward silences and bouncing ideas back and forth. It was early afternoon by the time the train arrived at its destination. The duo stepped off the train and picked up a map at the train station. Using the map, they made their way towards the beach and sat in the sand as they waited patiently for the monster to show up. An hour passed by with no words spoken between Trevor and Aeris while the monster had yet to show up.

"So.." said Trevor, trying to break the silence since it was likely that there might be a while longer before the serpent showed up. "Has there been any trouble with your job lately?"

Aeris looked at Trevor and raised an eyebrow. "What kind of trouble are you referring to?"

"Well, the fact that you're basically a mercenary group of wizards using charm magic to filter out your customers raises a lot of legal questions." Trevor had always had an issue with the way that cafe worked. "Has anyone suspicious showed up as of late?"

Aeris smiled as she reached into her bag and pulled out a canteen, tossing it to him. "Nah, everything's been fine. Madam Clara has been playing it smart lately to make sure we don't get caught. We've all gone through rejection from wizard guilds so we work together to make sure none of us get in trouble with the magic council."

Trevor took a swig from the canteen. _Lemonade. What else should I have expected from her?_ "You're always welcome to join Serpent's Iris, you know that right? Everyone there already knows you so you'd fit right in." He chucked the canteen back to Aeris.

Aeris giggled as she caught the canteen. "And I will always appreciate the offer, but I owe Madam Clara everything for taking me in. I couldn't just leave her and the rest of the girls."

Trevor sighed and smiled. "I know, just thought I'd ask anyway. With just the five of us there, I'm sure Crysti would enjoy some girlish company."

"Well right now, I think the only company she needs is Wake's. I still can't believe he confessed to her." Aeris drank from the canteen and noticed the waves beginning to get bigger. "I think our friend's here." She placed the canteen on the ground and stood up.

Trevor got up and cracked his knuckles. "Good, the sooner we kill this thing, the sooner the awkward chatter can end."

Not far from the shoreline, the water started to rise like a mountain before exploding, a giant, dark-blue scaled serpent showing its face from the scattering water. It had several sharp fangs, some longer than Trevor, and it's gold-colored eyes stared directly at the mages, letting out a monstrous hiss that pushed away some of the sand on the shore.

Both of the mages had braced themselves during that hiss, surprised by the pressure created from it. Trevor reached into his bag and dropped several rocks and metals onto the ground by his feet. Aeris held her hands out to each side as she created two magic circles, using Requip magic to summon several kunai between each of her fingers on her left hand and a pure iron staff in her right hand.

Trevor gripped tightly on two stones barely smaller than the size of his hands and used his magic on them, causing each of them to start glowing. "Eruption: Frag Grenade!" He tossed the rocks at the serpent with tremendous force. Even with the force of the throw, the serpent looked completely unphased by the impact of the rocks. The rocks detonated and scattered the rock pieces like bullets onto the serpent, enough to irritate it and make it lunge at the earth mage.

Aeris ran in front of Trevor and cast a magic circle the effected her kunai and her staff. As the serpent closed in on the duo, she thrust the staff at the serpent, slamming it against the nose of the sea monster and stopping it in its tracks, cracking some of its scales, the recoil launching Aeris into Trevor and knocking the mages backwards.

Trevor helped Aeris and himself stand back up as the serpent recovered from the impact. "Looks like your Hardening magic is able to damage its scales, but it looks like we'll have to hit it harder than that." He ran back to where he was standing before and picked up a piece of quartz, chucking it at the serpent, the explosion producing more force than the other explosions before.

The serpent reared its head back as it was pushed back by the explosion, locking its eyes on the earth mage. As it opened its mouth in preparation to attack, five kunai stabbed into its neck and caused it to screech in pain and back up even more, looking up to see Aeris no longer with the kunai in hand.

Trevor turned around to face Aeris after watching her harm the serpent with her kunai. "Why didn't you tell me you were gonna throw those?! You know that anything your magic effects makes a better explosion with my magic!"

"Oh do not get mad at me, you saw that I had those kunai out! What else would I use them on a giant monster other than to throw them!" As she was arguing, she saw the monster open its mouth and focused its aim at the mage not paying attention. "Watch out!" She ran over to him and pulled themselves out of the way as the serpent fired a stream of pressurized water at the duo, cutting a line through the sand. "Okay, yeah. Definitely would have been better if Wake was here."

"You think?" asked Trevor sarcastically as he got back to his feet. "Listen, I have an idea, but I'm gonna need you to get its attention and bring its head down to the beach. Think you can handle that?"

Aeris almost looked upset that he'd even question her abilities. She used her Requip magic to create four shuriken on each of her fingers on her left hand. "Of course I can." She cast her Hardening magic on the shuriken, a faint glow on each of them.

Trevor nodded and put his hands on each of the shuriken, casting his magic on them to trigger them to detonate. He then took the staff from Aeris and started running while Aeris herself tosses her explosive weapons at the serpent, lodging themselves in its jaw, forehead, upper neck and lower neck respectively, each detonating and making the serpent screech again as it was in great pain.

The serpent turned its focus on the Hardening mage and charged up another stream of pressurized water at her. As Aeris dodged, the serpent lunged its head at the mage, slamming into her with full force and slamming her into the concrete wall that connected the city streets to the beach. Aeris grinned as there was a little blood coming from her head but she managed to get back up just fine, her clothes having been hardened like armor to sustain the impact. "Trevor, do it!"

Trevor pressed his hand through the sand and cast a magic circle under the serpent's head, the circle even wider than the head as the sand began to glow. "Eruption: Flash Sand!" The area under the serpent's head began to erupt into a blinding light that enveloped the head of the monster. As the light disappeared, the pupils of the serpent's eyes were very small as it let out a pained hiss, the sand underneath no longer there. "Yes, it's blind! Now's my chance!" He ran for the serpent and leapt high into the air, slamming the hardened staff into the serpent's skull and triggered his magic upon it, quickly diving into the water as the staff exploded, the serpent screeching louder than it did before.

Aeris fist-pumped the air as they'd landed a direct hit on the serpent. She ran over to Trevor as he came out of the water and watched as the serpent flailed about as its head was bleeding fiercely. Both the mages looked like it was gonna be an easy win if they land another one of those hits until they saw it dove its head underwater, realizing why the monster was listed as so dangerous in the first place.

Moments later, the serpent rose out of the water once again, its head completely healed of the wounds it had sustained in the past few minutes. It let out a roaring hiss like it did before, building up water to fire at the mages. The mages managed to dodge out of the way of the stream once again, but Trevor looked quite freaked out. "There's no way that thing's eyesight's recovered. Even if it could heal quickly, a flash sand attack like that would take several minutes to regain its eyesight."

"Seems like we have no choice but to either take it down in one shot or keep it from going underwater in the first place. Though that's easier said than done, even if I harden the surface of the water." Aeris held her hands atop one another as she Requips a longsword longer than her own body. "Don't suppose you have anything to blow it up in one shot, do you?"

"I do, though there's no guarantee this thing can't heal even with no head. I might have to resort using it to blast the serpent out of the water." said Trevor. He was about to go to the pile of materials he had laying on the ground when he saw they were all severely broken, having been hit by that last stream of water from the serpent. "Damnit, might have to resort to it early." As he reached into his bag to pull something out, he felt something cylindrical and pulled out the metal cup from the train. "What the hell? How did that get into my.. Wait a minute! Aeris, I have a plan! He scooped up sand into the cup and looked to where Aeris was standing before. "I need you to-"

Aeris was already running for the serpent, solidifying the ocean to create a pathway to the serpent. The serpent opened its mouth to prepare another stream of water for the mage, but was too slow as the mage had already leapt into the air. "Quadruple Hardening!" The blade of her sword shone with a bright white light as it received the enchant, piercing into the jaw of the serpent with little issue to piercing through to the top of its mouth, locking it jaw shut. As Aeris was falling, she saw that the serpent's cheeks started to fill up before water burst out its mouth by force, knocking out a number of the serpent's teeth. The serpent slammed its body against Aeris, knocking her to the shore.

The serpent struggled to get the sword out of its jaw and turned its angry eyes to the mage struggling to get up. It lunged straight for her, planning to ram its massive body weight into her and crush her. Moments before it made impact, Trevor pushed Aeris out of the way and was crushed between the sand and the massive monster's head. He screamed loudly as he tossed a handful of sand into the nostril of the giant sea snake, the sand detonating inside. The serpent reared it head back immediately as the feeling of the sand detonating in its nose was too much for it to handle.

Aeris ran over to Trevor as he wasn't getting up. As she tried to help him up, he screamed in agony. "Trevor, you idiot! Please tell me you're okay!"

Trevor tried his best to smile to his girlfriend despite the immense pain he was feeling. "I-I'm fine, I can take more than that. Though that thing messed up my spine really bad, I can't move without it hurting really bad."

Aeris started shedding tears as she's never been on a mission where either of them had been as badly injured as Trevor had become in that single hit. "D-Don't worry, we can run and get help. It'll hurt but I'll carry you on my back and get you to safety."

Trevor shook his head as he looked at the serpent, focusing on forcing its jaw open. "We can't. If we leave this thing alone, it's just gonna get more dangerous and someone else might get hurt worse than I am. I have a plan." He held up the cup full of sand. "Blind its eye with the sand and toss the cup into its mouth. You'll have fifteen seconds to throw the cup in after the sand."

Aeris looked at the cup and smiled as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "You damn serpents. You're just as frustrating as the thing in the water." She pressed her hands on Trevor's chest and created a magic circle upon it. "Skeletal hardening!" Trevor's body had a faint glow on his body outlining his skeletal system. She then took the cup and ran back for the serpent, catching its attention. "Hey bastard! Don't you want revenge on me?! Then come get me!"

The serpent understood her taunt as it finally forced its jaw open, the sword dangling from its jaw. It focused its aim at the solid path that the mage had made and fired upwards from it, leaving Aeris, few places to run.

Aeris ripped off her top, revealing a brown swimsuit top underneath and held the fabric in front of her. "Quadruple Hardening!" The ripped top started to shine as it withstood the stream of water. She immediately tossed the top into the water and restored her path as she leapt back into the air. The serpent tried to slam its head down on her but she grabbed onto the sword lodged in its jaw. As the serpent lifted its head back up, she used that momentum to swing herself into the air. She hardened the sand in the cup and tossed it into the eye, every grain of sand detonating the moment they come into contact with the eye, effectively blinding it. She Requipped a smaller blade, hardening it before stabbing the side of the serpent's jaw as she was falling. She remembered what Trevor said about fifteen seconds though she was in trouble since the side she landed on still had a wall of teeth blocking its way. _Damn, I don't have much magic power left. I got one chance._ "Skeletal Hardening!" Her body started to glow as she applied the enchant to herself. She pulled the arm holding the cup back and slammed it through the teeth, her fingers bleed as she broke through the teeth of serpent and dropped the the cup down its throat. She returned the blade she was holding onto and dropped to the ocean, splashing into the water.

The serpent stared down at the mage swimming to the shore, opening its mouth to fire water at her. Before it did, the cup blew up in its mouth, blood pouring from its open mouth as the maneuver it did inside to pressurize the water inside its body to help force the blood out in gushing bursts. Most of the blood fell down the back of its throat and it soon found it very hard to breath, soon falling back to the water as it had choked on its own blood.

Aeris climbed onto shore and coughed as she felt very weak, hardly any magic power left in her after using her requip magic as well as her Hardening magic. As she watched the serpent's body crash into the water, she sighed. _Looks like that's one sword that I'm gonna have to replace. And it was so pricey too._ She walked back over to Trevor and smiled as he was still lying on his back. "You look comfortable. You wanna just stay here while I get you a doctor?"

Trevor chuckled as he leaned his head back to stare at the sky. "I ought to be fine here by myself. There's no way that thing can get back up with that much blood clogging its means of breathing. Be quick though, and do something about your situation. While it is just a swimsuit, I'd rather nobody stare at at my girlfriend."

Aeris rolled her eyes and smirked. "Yeah sure, I'll make sure to do something about it." In consideration, she walked over to where she left her canteen and picked it up, bringing it back to Trevor so her boyfriend doesn't get thirsty. On her way back to him, she noticed a mass of water starting to rise up. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!"

The serpent's head burst forth from the water with a howling hiss, its mouth full of developed teeth and its mouth fully healed. It stared at the mages, specifically Aeris as it looked quite angered. It dropped its mouth into the water for a couple moments before rising back up and firing a stream of water at her, not pressurized like the other times but still enough to push the mage back to the stone wall.

Aeris gasped as the impact hurt her back a large amount. She forced herself to stay standing, constantly muttering to herself that Trevor took more pain than she just did. Only having the energy to cast hardening one more time, she knew she didn't have the strength to take the monster on again. She quickly ran over to Trevor and tried to lift him up. "We gotta get out of here, we can't beat it."

As Trevor howled in pain as he was being lifted up, not as in pain as before thanks to the enchantment from before. As he was being lifted up, he noticed something on the serpent's neck reflecting the sunlight. It was the kunai that Aeris had thrown before but he never got the chance to detonate. "Aeris wait, I think we can kill it!"

"Are you crazy?! That thing's been healing from any injuries we deal to it! Our only choice is to run and force Wake into coming here to deal with it!" shouted Aeris, watching as the serpent was rising its head from the water to spray the water at them again.

Trevor pulled a solid brick from his bag and tossed it in the path of the water, the tremendous explosion stopping the spray of water. "I don't think this serpent's been instantly healing whenever it dives underwater. I think it's a double-headed serpent that's been switching between heads whenever one takes a serious injury. It would also explain the reason why it's shooting water differently, the other head was likely sucking in water while it became pressurized through its body and shot out the other end."

"Okay one, that's disgusting. And secondly, even if that is true, we don't have the firepower to kill it. I'm nearly out of magic." said Aeris, still trying to pull Trevor to his feet.

Trevor reached into his bag and pulled out the lacrima full of earth element magic. "We do though. This thing was designed to unleash the most devastating attack my magic is capable of, seeing as I don't have enough magic power to do it on my own. I was hoping I wouldn't have to use it though since it takes Xander three months to make it."

"If it's that powerful, then just give it to me and I'll chuck it at the damn thing!" shouted Aeris, wanting to hurry things up since the serpent was already gathering water again.

"It's not that simple. It takes me a full minute of concentration to prime it. I need you to distract it for me. Think you can handle that?" Trevor looked directly into Aeris' eyes, his eyes full of trust as he believed she could do it.

Aeris grumbled as she placed Trevor back onto the ground. "You're absolutely insane. Then again, you'd have to be if you chose to date me." She grabbed ran off towards the serpent and started screaming at it to get its attention.

Aeris took a number of sprays from the serpent in the minute that it took to keep the serpent distracted. Trevor nearly broke concentration a couple of times out of worry for what his girlfriend was having to do by herself due to him being to hurt to stand up. Once the lacrima was fully primed, the magic inside started to glow very brightly, starting to crack the crystal's surface as it was trying to force itself open. Aeris quickly ran over and grabbed onto the lacrima and pulled her arm back in preparation to throw it. "Skeletal Hardening!" She hardened her bones as she forced her body to throw the lacrima with more force than her body should be able to in its current state, pulling several muscles in her arm as she does.

"Know your place when in the presence of a true serpent." muttered Trevor as he watched the lacrima go flying at the serpent, shattering once it made contact. "Nova Eruption!"

From the spot where the lacrima broke, a sphere of light formed and started to grow at in credible rate, enveloping the serpent's entire body and forcing the water to part from the mere pressure this light was emitting. The light then began to rupture before exploding with an enormous amount of force that sent the mages flying from the beach over the stone wall and onto the streets, shattering the glass of several lampposts along the edge of the wall. Once the explosion was settled, the was nothing left of the serpent other than the other head currently lying at the bottom of the water, scorched from the explosion itself.

Trevor chuckled weakly as he was tired from pouring so much magic power into that lacrima to set off that explosion. Aeris helped him up and let him rest on her back as she started to carry him to the nearest doctor in town. He sighed, probably going to regret what he was about to say. "You know.. since you put your hands on my chest, that technically makes us even for what happened last time."

Aeris shook her head in disbelief, a smile on her face to see that Trevor was fine enough to make comments like that. "You really cannot let that go, can you? Fine, we're even, now would you finally drop the subject?"

"Fine."

* * *

 **Holy hell, that was the longest chapter I've ever written for anything. I never expected this chapter to take this much space but goddamn does it feel like it'll pay off in the end. At least for me anyway, this story doesn't get a lot of attention as it is. If any of you could recommend it to friends of yours, I'd appreciate it. And if you have no friends, welcome to the club, we should hang out sometime and fix that. Anyway, that's enough stupidity from the author, leave a review since it'll provide feedback for me, regardless if it's good or bad, follow/favorite this story if you haven't already and like it that much. I'll see you next time.**


End file.
